Halter@Chuuk

Pisariarts

2006-08-30T19:21:00.000+10:00

Hey all! I just arrived back after my vacation on a deserted tropical island paradise - can you beat that? Since we have spent the entire summer break at Xavier Fr Arthur decided to give us a break on Pisar. This small island sits on the edge of Chuuk Lagoon, a 1 hour boat ride from Weno Island. Pisar has a clear advantage over other Chuukese islands. The first thing you notice when you arrive is that it is clean. There’s no car wrecks or broken bottles. A Chuukese family lives on the island and keeps it in perfect condition. Pisar has beautiful sandy beaches and is surrounded by reefs and sandbars. The island is smaller than a football field and covered in palm trees and shrubs. You can actually walk around barefoot safely, feeling soft, normal sand under your feet.

The Pisariarts, as we called ourselves, were made up of Diego (the 20 yr old son of Mike in charge of maintenance at Xavier), Texter and Kevin (senior students at Xavier), Jeremy and me.

We arrived at Pisar on Friday morning and were greeted with gloomy skies and rain. The family were very nice and offered us fish and a unique dish – it was sea cucumber mashed and cut into tiny, slimy, very chewy pieces. It was a bit hard to swallow, but I swallowed it. Our accommodation was luxury. We had a nicely built house with tiled bathroom and shower, wooden floors, a nice balcony and a double bed – a proper bed!

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, which we spent snorkeling and swimming all day. This sun disappeared at lunch and did not appear until Thursday, the day we left Pisar. Instead the whole week was gloomy, cloudy, windy and wet. Luckily this did not dampen our spirits. The sea water was very warm and we swam everyday, rain hail or shine. Over the week we explored the reefs and walked to the very edge of Chuuk Lagoon. It was really cool seeing the waves crash on the rock shelf that stretched for miles on either side. We also explored the other nearby islands. There were 4 small islands linked by sandbars which were covered in hermit crabs. Texter taught me the art of hunting for and removing hermit crabs from their shells. We used them for bait and fishing was very successful (until we ran out of hooks and line).

The family cooked our first meals and then left to go to Weno for the week, leaving us totally alone on the island. We lazed around in hammocks or on the double bed and cooked our own meals (mainly corned beef, luncheon loaf and tuna). Since there was no power, we ate early and relaxed on the beach (if it wasn’t wet) under a full moon (if the clouds didn’t cover it). It was early to bed and early to rise most days. We played plenty of cards and games, and Jeremy also taught the guys wrestling moves. They are now all fanatical WWE fans. My only complaint was the flies -- there were thousands of them that pestered us until nighttime.

On the final night the skies cleared and the beautiful full moon lit up the island. We swam in the warm water watching the silhouette of the Chuuk lagoon islands behind us. The next morning was stunning – the clear water sparkled and so did Pisar. We swam and took in as much sun as we could before we had to leave.

When we arrived back home, Xavier was waterlogged. It was also very busy – all the new JVs had arrived and all the old teachers had come back. One of the JVs actually arrived in Chuuk in a wheelchair after slashing her entire knee open on a rock while playing soccer in Pohnpei. It may be a month before the stitches heal and she can walk! I missed everyone, but I also found it very strange having so many people around. Things seem so much louder and busier and I wish it was quieter again. Power is fairly regular now and the internet is variable. The JVs are struggling to cope after having such luxuries in Pohnpei. Dinner time is more interesting now as there are plenty of stories to tell.

Yesterday the Pisariarts crew helped paint one side of the interior of the dorm. After working with my Dad, I was shocked to see the way the boys paint – ‘careful’ is not one of the things they think of when painting. Paint was splattered on the floors and the beds and the lockers, but at least the walls got coated in it.

Planning for lessons begins next week. I am officially teaching freshman algebra this year and may also be helping Jeremy and Buddy with the computer courses as well. Life is sweet and I hope yours is good too. Take care.

Uman

2006-07-27T19:30:00.000+10:00

Summer Chillin'

2006-07-11T19:58:00.000+10:00

Hi all! This is just another update of summer break in Chuuk, and I have been reminded recently (by my mum of course) that I’ve passed the halfway mark of my stay here!!!

Summer break has had its ups and downs on Chuuk. Weno Island isn’t the most exciting island, and many of the local students leave the island because they find it too boring! But Jackie, Lily, Jeremy, Kevin, Fr Arthur, Diego and I have kept each other company and the time has flown by.

Power has been unreliable as usual. The generator is still broken and island power goes on and off. It is ironic when we sit in the dark without power at Xavier and talk about the Chuukese governor’s latest expenses. For example, spending $9,000 chartering 3 flights for his family to another island for a relative’s graduation!

XEP (Xavier Entrance Preparation) started 2 weeks ago and I’ve been having a great time. I enjoy teaching the kids math and making more contacts downtown. I have a real mix of kids to teach – some are smart, some are painfully slow, some don’t speak English, some speak too much, some refuse to speak at all and most just want to play basketball all day. I had to relearn some math methods to adjust to the US system including adjusting my accent for them (my family noticed I had a slight American twang – shock horror).

There’s a first time for everything here on Chuuk. Two days ago I made my first student cry and I don’t even know how I did it. She was dozing off on her desk so I dropped an eraser on her desk to wake her up. She threw it back at me and everyone started laughing. I started laughing because it was a joke and everyone was happy and then she burst into tears. She wouldn’t budge from her desk and buried her face in her hands. One of the girls had to take her outside and talk to her for ½ an hour. I felt horrible.

Jackie returned from Saipan after a successful Micronesian games. The team did pretty well considering there was no funding. Efforts to raise money in Chuuk failed due to poor organization. The team even asked Xavier to borrow the Chuuk flag for the games, since there was no flag on island, not even with the government. Jackie returned just in time to welcome her friend from America who stayed for a week. We took Vinnie camping up on the local mountain and showed him the local sights.

We often organize small events to keep ourselves occupied. These photos are of a picnic at Annas resort where we went kayaking for the day. There is an actual swimming pool there, with large turtles swimming in a smaller one beside it. Every now and then we cook up a storm in the kitchen or go downtown for ‘Sunday cruising’. I haven’t been diving recently because XEP has kept me busy. This weekend we plan to go to Uman to stay with the Xavier secretary, Antonia and her family.

On a more negative note, a boy was stabbed outside the local supermarket at night recently. He was a drunk 17 yr old who got stabbed in the neck. The village fights are very violent here and Chuukese are renowned for using knives. It’s safe enough for me but you don’t go walking around downtown at midnight because, as a rule of thumb, any drunk Chuukese is bad news.

Now the summer break is coming closer to an end. All the teachers return to Xavier by Aug 5 to start planning for the new year. The weather here has been up and down lately, but the rain has been fairly constant. It doesn’t sound anything like Sydney’s temperatures though. I hope you’re enjoying the chill down under. Ha ha!

Summer calm

2006-06-22T08:41:00.000+10:00

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!

Diver Nic - Shinkoku, Fujikawa & Sharks

2006-06-17T08:06:00.000+10:00

On Friday I did another set of dives which were unbelievable. I still cannot get used to the feeling underwater when you see these ships. In the morning we visited the ‘Shinkoku Maru’, a massive Jap freighter that is a popular wreck in the Lagoon. It sits upright on the sea floor in perfect condition. The main deck is very big and looks more like the Barrier Reef than a ship. The railings and sides are encrusted with huge corals and fish swim around you as you float along the deck. Large encrusted masts point to the surface ad dozens of tiny colourful fish swarm around them. We explored the stern of the boat, and I was felt dwarfed when compared to the big drop over the edge. Even a large grey reef shark cruised beside the port side of the boat, as schools of tuna swarmed above, sparkling in the sunlight.

We entered the main bridge and visited the old tiled officers shower and bathrooms. We also looked in the surgeon’s room, with tools and bones lying on the table. There were also radios, shoes, cups, and artifacts divers had brought up from below deck. As you exited the bridge you could see the bow stretch out before you, and imagine what it would have looked like back in the 40s. After looking around the whole ship we made a safety stop amidst a group of small jellyfish and large angelfish. I loved every moment.

The next dive was the Fujikawa, a large oil tanker that also sat upright on the sea floor.
We entered the ship through the large hole in its side created by a torpedo that eventually sank it. We made our way up into the ship into a large hold full of doorways, and old steps and metal gangways, through the engine room and up to the deck. Light shone through the large cracks above. The deck of the ship comprises of large cranes and storage holds. Fish gravitated around the encrusted coral cranes, and we explored the holds. The first was full of crushed oil drums. There was a layer of silt on everything and a strange green tinge to the space, in contrast to the blue sea above. Among all the oil drums were the wrecks of complete Zero fighters, wings outstretched. The old controls were intact in the 3 complete cockpits that lay there. Some wings and propellers had broken off and were jutting up as you wound your way through the wreckage. We visited the large bow gun (it was strange because it was a British gun from WW1 on a Jap ship!) before heading to the surface.

After lunch at Pisiwi, we visited Shark island. Hence the name, we dove into shark infested waters where sharks ranging from 1 m to 3m swam around us as we sat on the seafloor. The creatures are very scary but so streamlined and elegant in the water. There was a strange phenomenon where they swim with head raised and mouth open through a certain patch of water full of tiny particles, in order to clean themselves. Hence the place is called a 'shark cleaning station'. We cruised around the island which is surrounded by a vibrant reef, full of fish and sharks. When we climbed into the boat, we dropped lots of fish into the water to watch the sharks go wild. And that was unfortunately the end of the day - an utterly amazing day.

Diving - The Rio De Janeiro and the Futagami tug

2006-06-10T10:12:00.000+10:00

bow gun of the Rio

Futagami main cabin - telegraphs

Futagami bridge

Rio de Janeiro propellor

Saki storage room

Diver Nic

2006-06-08T14:06:00.000+10:00

I finally managed to get on the net after the generator fried our network cable. Now the generator is fixed it has decided to put out high voltages that blow computers and lights and tvs. So we can have no power, or volatile power!

Over the week more people departed from Xavier. Joel, another Micronesian teacher, returned to Yap, and Fr Bill and Fr Arthur went to Pohnpei for a retreat.

We finally finished the ICU last Saturday. It was a great relief and I was exhausted, but it was also hard having to decide who would not come to Xavier - I didn't realise I had gotten so attached. I have some good memories, including the day I was surprised to see the students relaxing in the hut with the 'resident petrol sniffer'. The guy was there sniffing away while these 8th graders watched on in wonder!

We also received the Aloysiad last week. It was great to read our article and it made me very 'schoolsick'. The summer program (XEP - Xavier Entrance Prep) starts on the 20th for 4 weeks.

I have had plenty of time to finish my work lately, read good books and study Chuukese. Last night we played cards, slapping the mosquitoes (they're everywhere!) and eating ripe mangoes. You need to get up early in the morning to get them because all the workers and local Sapuk kids are up just as early to go mango hunting. This Sunday we are going downtown to kayak and have a afternoon bbq to relax.

I'm not bored which I am very thankful for. And how could you be bored when you can go DIVING!!! Yes i finally accomplished the impossible and got up on Tuesday morning to go diving with a Brit backpacker.

It was a beauitful day as I dived down 25 metres with Peter and 2 Micronesians to see the Rio De Janeiro - a massive supply ship. As you drift down, it suddenly appears in the blue and its sheer size overwhelms you. You can't see the whole boat because its too long. It lies on its side in the water, and we coasted along the deck past large guns, looking inside cabin holes to see telegraphs and the engine room. We even saw a room completely filled with cases and cases of saki! Then we swam around the propellor (it was taller than me) and along its hull, which was almost like a reef it was so covered in coral. I was enjoying every minute, watching tuna swim by as I drifted along the hull of this steel giant.

After surfacing we headed to another smaller wreck, the Futagami (a tug boat). This lay slanted in a bed of silt and was just as good, if not better. Even though it was smaller, I loved following my guide through a hole and into the engine room, poking around the dials and through holes and openings. We could even go into the radio communication room and the main cabin. You can get your picture driving the ship in the cabin. It was brilliant! Then we visited the reef alongside the ship, checking out the local sea life.

The day was too good to be true and it was even better knowing the Brit backpacker had taken awesome photos on his digital camera. I have to get them off the computer downtown, but when I do, you will be the first to see.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rio De Janeiro

Length: 142 metres

Tonnage: 9,626 t

Today, the Rio de Janeiro Maru sits at a maximum depth of about 34 metres, with the ship lying on its starboard side. It is located on the eastern side of Uman Island, perhaps a few hundred metres off the southern most end. As you swim down onto the wreck it is quickly obvious that this is a huge wreck, the fourth biggest in Chuuk Lagoon in terms of tonnage.

Exploring Tonoas

2006-05-28T15:27:00.000+10:00

Well it’s almost April and the school grounds are considerably more quiet now. Not that I haven’t been busy. After a hectic graduation and cultural day week, all the staff and students left during the week. Some go back home, some staff go to Pohnpei to start a summer teaching program, and a handful of us are left behind here.

I have been preoccupied with ICU which comes to an end next week. I have been teaching and driving around downtown dropping off homework. (I’m excellent at manual now!) We will probably accept 10 Chuukese students from the group of 17. We will also start another program during the summer break for the 7th graders to help them prepare for the Xavier entrance exam.

The generator is fixed and power is constant. And the telecom people finally installed ‘T1’ – the new broadband connection, so hopefully it will be running probably in the next few weeks! The weather is varied, and I have plenty of books to read, movies to watch, food to cook, basketball to play, and projects fro the summer break. I plan to do kayaking, and exploring around Weno, as well as traveling to the closer Chuukese islands.

Last Tuesday I went to Tonoas with Buddy and Rufina for the day. Tonoas is a smaller island next to Weno (10 min ride by boat) and it is markedly different. It is beautiful - so much cleaner and better infrastructure. It was the main Japanese base during the war, so there are plenty of relics including Japanese graves, guns, a hospital and underground caves and tunnels. The local priest and parish looked after us for the day and I had an amazing time! The island of Fefan may be our next stop.

Jeremy arrived back from Australia as well on Friday. He left on the afternoon of graduation day to see his sick grandmother. He saw lots of Aloys boys and had a really nice time with his family and his grandmother, but was eager to get back. He also brought lots of goodies that my family sent to me. How I missed Minties! I also got a wonderful package from Grandma & Chris and a letter form Betty during last week. Thank you!

Last night I played Tekken tag on PS2 with two of the Xavier boys staying on campus. Who would’ve thought I could play PS2 over here!

Jeremy brought back news that no yr 12 boys from Aloys are interested n coming to Chuuk next year. We have to email Murray Happ and try and send something to entice those lazy seniors to come over!

More Graduation Pics

2006-05-24T16:01:00.000+10:00

Graduates at Baccalaureate Mass (above)

Graduation Day - jackie (JV - left), antonia (secretary - right), lily (accountant-sitting) , fr arthur

SCHOOL'S OVER!!!

2006-05-18T21:51:00.000+10:00

Hey!!!

I can’t believe it’s May already. I’ve been here almost 4 months!!!

The past few weeks have been very chaotic, and exasperating, and funny. At the moment the school year has finished and everyone is slowly filtering onto planes to take them home for the summer break. This includes the JVs who head to the Marshalls for a retreat. Then two of them will holiday in Pohnpei, one will come home for the summer break, and two will head home to the US after completintg their two years. I am furious with myself now because I missed the bus that was taking them to the airport and never got to say goodbye.

You may wonder why this blog has taken a while to appear. It’s because I have had an unlucky run of luck the past three weeks. First we had 3 days of absolutely no power, then 4 days of complete power, but at the same time, internet problems. Then the last week has been preparing for graduation so I just haven’t found the time.

The ICU program has been going well. I’m getting to know the kids better and enjoying teaching math. ICU has been going well. I am thoroughly enjoying teaching math and the kids are great, and starting to warm up to me more. They’re even understanding my accent. Sometimes the constant marking of ICU homework keeps me very busy and tired! We have done 3 weeks of the program so far, and we will discuss with Fr Arthur what the plans are for the rest of the program.

Classes finished on Friday 28th April and exams were on the following week. (their final exams are not as important as the HSC to us). On Friday the seniors conducted the ‘official transfer of power ceremony’. It turns out it want official at all. Each island representative dumped anything they could find on their successors heads. Shampoo, coconut oil (lots of it!), coke, soda, soap, cold water, deodorant, talcum powder. Friday also marked the final classes of the year!! It’s really interesting watching the seniors go through graduation when I only did it a few months ago.

The first few days of no power started on Sunday 30th when the government ran out of money to buy diesel for their generator (a common occurrence) and our generator broke. (It is still broken). It was really cool experiencing no power at night – everyone played games and chatted around kerosene lamps, and all the boys sang outside and we baked ANZAC biscuits and cakes and had a great time. One night I heard screams on the oval. I thought it was a few boys fooling around out there. But when the security guard came down and flashed his high power torch, the entire group of boys were lit up, running around the oval wildly like ants. I rushed out and was mobbed by the freshman.

I could write about graduation week for pages and pages but I thought I would be brief and let you look at the photos instead. Monday and Tuesday was spent cleaning up the whole campus and practicing. Wednesday was Cultural Day. All the parents came from all over Micronesia (some paying $2000-$6000 to fly here) to watch the dances. First we welcomed the parents with singing and then each island group opened stalls selling local food and souvenirs that their parents had brought over. I feasted with the Palauans, and ate coconut candy and coconuts with the Marshallese, and ate Kosraean tangerines and apple pie, and weaved skirts with the Yapese and so on. It was fantastic. After lunch the dances begun. The whole of Chuuk basically turned up to watch. Boys and girls did various dances from all the island nations. We also watched Japanese and Indian dances. The staff stole the show with two Chuukese dances and the haka. The boys all dressed up in charcoal and oil with loincloths and went wild with Jeremy in the haka (we couldn’t think of an Aussie dance so we went with the kiwis). The crowd loved it. It was worth it after many nights spent practicing with the staff. That afternoon I watched the sakau ritual and drank it. It was a really cool experience.

Thursday we ate lunch with the seniors and their parents. On Friday we had Baccalaureate mass and ate another huge feast. The singing at mass as beautiful, as were the decorations. On Saturday we had graduation. It went all day, with the students walking up to the stage from the new bus, in style with red gowns and caps, sunglasses and chewing gum. The setting was beautiful and the day was a scorcher. Afterwards, it is tradition to line every graduate up and let every person come and lay a wreath around their necks. You could not see their necks as they buckled under the weight of lolly necklaces, $1 note necklaces even betelnut necklaces. Then that night we had the biggest feast of my life - enough for for 1000 people, include 2 slaughtered pigs on a table. It was amazing, and it was an all round beautiful day (especially considering it had poured down the whole week before).

Other news:

The local cat had a kitten a month ago. It is sooo cute now. One day it accidentally walked off the balcony and fell 3 metres. The kitten (which is only 20 cm long) actually survived. Mike, the worker, just picked it up and through it back up to me! I caught it.
We have kept ourselves busy on weekends, often playing games with the kids. I’m getting into baseball now but I still can’t hit anything. I’ve also become master baker with Luthi. We make cakes, brownies, pizzas, and ANZAC biccies whenever there’s a spare moment.
I’ve been sighing a lot lately when it comes to the government here. They finally filled in the collapsing bridge with coral. But apart from that nothing has improved. The government is corrupt, and gives favours like free power to their family (that includes 5th and 6th cousins). The people don’t like the govt but can’t be bothered to do anything about it. When the govt gets money for power, they spend it all at once rather than conserving it! What can you do!?
I went to the state debate on Tues 2nd at the Supreme court. Typically, they dumped the job of organizing the whole event on one of us. AJ tried to get judges but failed (no one responds as well to a white guy as they do to a local). Consequently the judging was bias and the schools got angry at AJ for mucking it up, even though they couldn’t do it themselves. It was eventually rescheduled and Xavier came 2nd.
Our generator is still broken. It needed one part which took a week to arrive then the workers realized they need another part so I just keep waiting.
It’s becoming more like rainy season here – frequent showers at least every second day. The frogs go crazy. I’ve already stepped on one frog in the middle of the night - it made a horrible squishy sound.
Aloys donated some money to Xavier. Thank you!! It was very generous.
Happy Birthday Papa (9th May). Sorry about the late notice. Thank you for the letter too Aunty Joyce.

I’m done typing now. It’s probably such an effort for you all to read! I’ll try and keep it updated better. Bear with me.

Byeee!

Cultural Day & Graduation

2006-05-17T07:20:00.000+10:00

ICU Chuuk

2006-04-25T22:38:00.000+10:00

Happy ANZAC Day!

This was the greeting I got from some of the Americans when I told them what day it was today. To celebrate I cooked ANZAC biscuits tonight with Rufina, Lily, Eleanor and Jackie. We made a batch of 30 and they tasted delicious! We even had to grind coconuts (below) for the ingredients (ie. I made Lily do the grinding). This weekend pavlova and possibly lamingtons might be the next recipe to tackle.

After the Easter break we got back into school mode. This is the last week of normal school! Next week is exams, and the next is graduation and cultural day! And then summer break! It’s a tough life.

This week Jeremy and I had meetings with Fr Arthur and planned our lessons for the first ICU (Intensive Care Unit) workshop. We will be re-teaching 17 8th grade Chuukese students Math and English in a 6 week course (1 full Saturday of teaching each week, and worksheets every night). It’s all up to me for Math and I’m really enjoying the challenge of developing a plan, exercises and teaching!

On Wednesday afternoon, the Juniors were confirmed in Callaghan Hall. It was a very nice ceremony. Jezz got some CDs from home and some DVDs arrived including Wallace & Gromit!!! It was good to listen to some more Aussie tunes.

I went downtown with AJ for a debate meeting. Of course like all meetings in Chuuk, no one turned up. I visited Truk Stop and chatted to the Irish couple who run the dive business. I actually planned a dive for Sunday, but as you will see, it soon got cancelled. I also visited the supermarket and bought more Aussie biscuits. I think I am the only one buying them because the pile hasn’t decreased since I saw it 2 weeks ago.

On Friday I was very nervous. On Saturday morning the kids arrived at 8am and we gave them a short Math and English ‘diagnostic test’ for 1 hour. Then I began Math lessons for the morning until lunch. It was a real eye opener! First, I discovered that everyone was too shy to say a word! Then I found that the majority (typical of most Chuukese students) have rarely studied or done homework for school. It was interesting discovering that things I take for granted, like eating breakfast, studying before exams, doing homework at a desk with light for more than an hour every night, aren’t here in Chuuk! So they gave me very puzzled and blank looks as I reviewed place values, order of operations, rounding, multiplication and division. I ended up spending the whole lesson teaching stuff I thought they would already know, and never got onto the dreaded decimal, % and fraction topic that I know they all failed in the exam!

I had some funny moments though: learning to write on a chalkboard, trying to hear there mumbling voices, making Math mistakes, cracking jokes (they all looked at me like I was stupid), and attempting to play games to spice things up (I soon learnt they’re not very quick) They also struggled to understand my apparently fast voice and strange accent!. Jeremy had the same problems with English in the afternoon. By 4pm I was buggered. It was both what I expected it to be and what I didn’t. Thank God we had the help of the Chuukese Juniors to translate for and help tutor the kids.

I feel more confident to tackle this Saturday now, and I have been setting worksheets and marking the answers each day which is not too bad. We are plotting out how to do this program so future Aussies can redo it in future years.

To relax on Saturday night we had a ‘Powerpoint Party’, the long awaited event of the month where everyone presented a prepared slideshow in the faculty lounge. We had couches, balloons, food, music, and a projector and some of the shows included:

· How to assault Xavier if taken over by terrorist students
· Measuring the distance to the sun using string, a hole and chalk
· Br Dave and Chris Luthi: a psychological comparison
· Corned Beef In A Can – new exciting recipes
· Tyson Punch Out (analysing an old Nintendo game)
· Weno Weed - the drug chain implicating all the faculty at Xavier (this was mine!!)

My favourite line was: “Chris Luthi comes from Buffalo, Br Dave is hairy like a buffalo”

After a late night on Saturday, a tiring day teaching the ICU, and lots of planning to do for Monday’s worksheets I cancelled the Sunday dive! I keep putting it off and transport down is the main problem!

And today and yesterday I have been working out the ICU homework. The kids are doing ok. I’ve also observed some classes, including a debate in Junior English, psychological test in Senior Psych and sign language in Freshman Lit.

Monday night was TR’s birthday. We played softball in the afternoon on the field and celebrated with a big cake, coke and fresh fish. YUM!!

And so we come to Tuesday night where I am currently content with ANZAC biscuits in my tummy, and a big glass of Milo.

If I haven’t emailed you lately, send me an email telling me I’m slack. I’d love to hear any news from home!

Take care!

Easter Eggs and Kangaroos

2006-04-17T21:24:00.000+10:00

Happy Easter!!!

2006-04-16T22:02:00.000+10:00

I hope you have all had a good holiday at home because I’ve had a fantastic week over here.

We had a holiday this week for Easter and Fr Arthur was busy organising the Holy Week masses for the students. Many of them had never been to any Easter masses before. Some students stayed downtown with their sponsors while the boys up at Xavier moped around bored half the time (if they don’t have a movie to watch, they’re bored). I really enjoyed lazing around this week and so did the rest of the faculty.

On Wednesday I got an awesome package from home containing chocolate eggs, shirts, licorice bullets and eucalyptus lollies (which I craved), newspaper clippings and newsletters from school, photos, CDs, bandannas, and more chocolate. It was so nice to sink my teeth into quality Aussie chocolate.

That morning I headed out to Pisiwi, an island about 20 mins from Weno by boat. 3 boatloads took me, Jeremy and the boys onto the tiny island, which had small beaches and beautiful big trees overhanging the water. The island was actually trashed upon closer inspection, with lots of rubbish lying around. But the water was great, and you could jump off the branches of the tress into the water. We swam, ate fried chicken and rice, sun-baked and headed back to Xavier after lunch.

Upon arriving back, I packed my bags and joined the JVs on an expedition hiking up to Witipwon, the highest point on Weno. We walked through head high grass, open plains, and thick jungle. We left at 4.30pm and arrived on the summit at sunset, and watched the sun disappear over the horizon. The view of the school and the island and the reef was overwhelming. We also saw many big Japanese artillery, with guns pointing into the sky and hidden in caves. At night we set up a tent and feasted around a fire on coconuts, tinned spaghetti, chips, chocolate, and pineapple. Sleeping on rock wasn’t very comfortable, but it was worth it for the view. That morning we watched the rain mist creep towards us and after a small downpour, headed back to Xavier.

On Thursday the new bus donated from Japan arrived. It came complete with cushioned seats, air con and a small fridge! The boys went wild. That afternoon we had mass with the washing of the feet.

Friday was a very long day as the whole school and local village gathered for the Stations of the Cross. We walked around Sapuk, visiting each Catholic family’s house for each station. I enjoyed exploring Sapuk, but the 2hr walk in the sun exhausted the kids. It felt good relaxing that afternoon and cooling down. That night we saw a rat tail hanging out of the oven. We found the rat chewing on chicken bones in then bottom of the oven (I found it by standing on a chair and taking photos from a distance with a camera flash). Then Non, fearless rat catcher, stuck his face near the oven, looked at it with a flashlight, and tried to whack it with a stick. It escaped, but I still had chills down my spine that night. As for the cats, they are so well fed with chicken they can’t be bothered going rat hunting!

On Saturday we celebrated the Easter vigil. We had a fire c\ceremony in the darkness of the gym and then listened to the readings in each of the nation’s languages. Mass was beautiful, with good music and a wonderfully decorated Callaghan hall. Afterwards we said our goodbyes and Happy Easters to the kids. We had drinks on the porch and ate my chocolate eggs that night, and then sat down to dye and paint hard boiled eggs for the Easter egg hunt the next morning. I’ve never done it before and it was great fun. I designed eggs like:

‘Nic is king’
‘Throw this at Jimmy’
‘This is a mango’
‘Xavier boys stink’
Kangaroo egg
Aussie egg
‘Egg-cellent’
‘There are eggs in the boys toilet’; and so on.

The next morning as soon as the bell rang at 7:30 the boys rushed out of their dorm to find the eggs. I hid mine very well because these boys are good., They climb ledges and towers and look everywhere frantically. One kid even found a raw egg some chicken had laid in the bushes! Personally, I don’t think it’s much fun looking for normal eggs as opposed to chocolate eggs.

After Chuukese mass, the faculty took a ride in the new bus to Truk Stop Hotel for a scrumptious brunch of cakes, crab salad, crumbed seafood, hot roast beef, chicken, potatoes and more!!! We had to navigate the bus under some fallen power lines on the way though.

But the day was not over there! Many of us walked down to the water and caught a boat to Pisiwi again in the afternoon. It was beautiful again, and I made my Aussie sculpture in the sand and lay in the shade of the trees in the water, looking out on the island and the ocean.

But it’s still not over! When we got back we ate an Easter feast again cooked by Fr Bill which included a giant ham, chocolate pudding and potatoes – I had died and gone to heaven. It was topped off with a phone call from home and Grandma , and then an Indian love/action/musical movie which was hilarious. My favourite line from the movie:

Girl: Don’t you mind that it’s raining?
Boy: I don’t care. I only care about the storm brewing in your eyes.

And so that’s my awesome Easter week. Now I am planning lessons for the ICU program which starts on Saturday. I hope your Easter was just as good. Ciao!

PS Pictures will be loaded later

Track & Field Fever!

2006-04-11T21:48:00.000+10:00

Staff relay team (l-r) Non, Adrienne, Jackie, Lily, Rufina, Jeremy, me & Deacon (muscle man)

Gday! Here’s this weeks latest.

On Tuesday I sent Murray Happ an official report and photos about the last 2 months and I think he’s going to put it in a Gonzagan newsletter or Aloysiad so look out for that. They also had student elections for Student Body president occurred in the hall. The candidates actually stood up and made speeches which I found novel.

On Tuesday night I witnessed the boys go truly ‘savage’ as they psyched up for the marathoners who were running the next morning. They were packed into the Callaghan Hall and cheering. They had planks of wood which they were slapping against the pews (they broke 2 pews) and pulled the metal louvers from the windows to smash against each other. Their primal screams were deafening and I was just stunned as I watched from the back. Fr Arthur was not as impressed, and he does not like this tradition where the boys destroy stuff once a year. He forced them outside where they danced and made speeches and worshipped the marathoners. It was really cool.

Wednesday I woke at 3.30 am and hopped on a truck with the 6 marathoners (CJ, Lorna, Melissa, Alex, Joshua & Thaine) and about 30 other boys. It was really cool watching the sun rise and see Chuuk slowly wake up. The run began at 5.30 at Anderson field and Jackie (marathon coach) rode beside them on a bike. I tagged behind in a truck with water. Xavier boys were strategically placed in groups along the track so they could cheer our runners all the way. It was a hard run for both boys and girls, and Alex dropped out halfway. We got 3rd, 6th and 7th for the girls and 6th and near last for the boys. Another school, Southern Numonias, dominated by winning 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 1st, 2nd, 4th, giving them a lead of 40 points by the end of the morning! Everyone was in good spirits though. I went back to Xavier and crashed for a couple of hours.

On Wednesday Jeremy and I had a chat with Fr Arthur who wants to get this ICU program up and running. We sent letters out to the 20 ‘ICU’ Chuukese students who we will give a 6 week intensive course for to see if they can pass the entrance exam. I have to plan lessons and worksheets which I find really interesting.

I also observed Joe’s freshman math class to see how he teaches math. When he told the kids there was a shortcut method to graph lines they were all excited, but they soon realised that the shortcut didn’t make the math homework any more fun!

Dennis also had a visit from his novice master, Fr Joe Lingan. Fr Joe was a very nice down-to-earth guy, who knew Fr Jones, and helped Fr Arthur become a Jesuit priest. He also had visited Australia a few times and couldn’t stop telling us how much he loved it (in comparison to Dennis who teases us about our ‘crazy’ accent). He stayed for the week and left on Monday. He works with 3 provinces in America, and lives with all the Jesuit novices. Each novice does experiments to test their faith and whether this is really the path they want to follow. Dennis described some of the experiments – having to live on the streets with no money for a week and beg for food, working in a hospital with the dying for a month, teaching in schools, visiting 3rd world countries and studying. The longest experiment involves Fr Joe choosing a place (like Micronesia) to send each novice too. He travels around this time of year, checking on each of them. I think he was impressed with Dennis’ progress.

We had our last track practice that afternoon. I was surprised when Fr Arthur told me about the students’ fear of black magic. Riantho, our fastest runner, had a muscle injury, and another boy had big boils on his thighs, so all the kids were convinced it was black magic and that we were cursed. Apparently these islands to do have witchdoctors as well.

Thursday morning was normal classes before the big afternoon track activities. The students were running 50m and 100m events at Anderson Field that afternoon. Before we left to go down we had a psych up assembly. I made a speech which involved lots of screaming and shouting. The faculty said I sounded a lot like Hitler! We got down to the oval and I had to supervise the freshman. Now I know how my teachers felt at track, trying to stop the whinging and whining kids sneaking off to the shops. We sat under a very hot sun that afternoon, but I avoided the sunburn. I helped support the girls running the 50m and 100m and Jeremy looked after the boys.

We did ok considering we versed some very tough opponents. Lu-A (freshman) was very fast in training but just freaked out at her first track carnival. Once she got over her nervousness she really ran though. Uni, a track veteran, was perhaps the funniest runner. She is tiny (even smaller than Mazza) but when she runs against her long-legged opponents, her small legs really fly! Amaroy, our star runner, smoked the competition. Xavier came out all right in these races, despite having to chase Southern Numonias’ 40 pt lead. After those races, it was 5pm and time to head home. The girls took the bus, while I began to walk up with the boys. It was really nice walking next to the airport runway as the sun set over it, listening to the boys cheer all the way up to Xavier. I was exhausted but happy that night when I crashed in bed.

Friday was a big day! We headed down at 7.30am and marched in a column with flags, cheering as we entered Anderson field. We took our place on the sideline, under the shade of big tents. Man - it was a scorching day! And I was out there for most of it warming up kids and running around. The kids were cheering (led by KK) in various languages. The major cheers included ‘Xavier Compari’ and ‘G-O-O-D-J-O-B, goodjob, goodjob’. Everyone was in red shirts, shorts and bandannas. Kids were sitting underneath tents, in the shade of the bus and on the bus roof watching the races. Rufina and the Micronesian cooks were our drummers, and beat the pulp out of an empty metal can.

Some of the major events that day:

We versed tough competition in the lap events. In Chuuk, 1 lap = 200m, and it is in a sort of diamond shape, with sharp corners. There are no lanes, so when you run, people push and shove and you get some huge trips that knock out various runners. It’s very exciting. Amaroy dominated the boys events much to the delight of the crowd. Our 8 lap girls, Sarah and Nicole had a nail biting finish at 1st and 2nd which Xavier went wild for. The relay events were particularly chaotic and jam packed. We had both wins and losses.

The outer islanders dominated copra husking, and the judging was very poor. Basket weaving was really cool, and Nicolette came 4th. Baskets were judged on quality and speed.

The staff relay was the highlight of the day. We had a bad start when Lily tripped up and fell, but then I took the baton on the 3rd lap. I ran fast and on the corner overtook 3 slow guys. I was saluting the Xavier crowd as I went by and accidentally bumped a guy who went sprawling. I then ran fast towards a stationary Jackie. When she got the baton, I kept going forward with nowhere else to go and knocked her over. So we didn’t get a place, but we came out ok. I felt like such a fool too! According to Dennis: “You smoked those guys on that run…and then you smoked Jackie”

There were also many funny moments. Deacon ripped off his shirt at one stage and showed his enormous muscles! For 50 he is damn good! Rufina went wild, dancing and smashing her drum, and some of the kids got up and danced. But nothing compared to Non (left), in his ‘Spoil Me’ t-shirt, shaking his ass in front of Xavier. Everyone was in fits of laughter.

We also had controversy. There were dodgy calls and disqualifications. We also had an out of date order of events sheet, so our events were in the wrong order, and we didn’t have enough relay teams. It was very confusing and Jeremy and I were running around like crazy.

At the award ceremony, we tied for 2nd place with Chuuk High, our sworn enemies (they are like Knox or Riverview to Aloys). Southern Numonias won the carnival for the first time. They deserved to win.

The Xavier kids weren’t too disappointed (they’d rather anyone except Chuuk High win). The schools slowly left, as the buses made trips up and down to Xavier. I waited with the final group on the oval as the afternoon cooled down. No-one picked up their rubbish of course! The oval looked terrible. We eventually got a ride back up to Xavier, and KK cheered ‘Sapuk is on fire’ on the way up (Sapuk is the village that Xavier is situated in and all the Sapukians and Xavier support each other). The local kids loved it.

And so after all that it was finally over. I was exhausted, stressed out, and had a slight tinge of red. I am glad I only had to do it once though. It’s too stressful!!!

The next few days were very quiet, which I really enjoyed. I read books, did puzzles and slept through Saturday. We celebrated Palm Sunday that night downtown. On Sunday we attended interviews with Fr Arthur and the ICU students and made plans for the program, which starts on Apr 22.

On Monday I woke up thinking it was school, only to realise it’s Easter holiday time! Fr Arthur has given us a holiday for this week, but all students must attend the Holy Week masses. All the faculty are welcoming this break. The kids were very bored on Monday with nothing to do. Fr Arthur is planning a picnic for them, and other activities this week to keep them occupied.

The JVs have gone through a puzzle phase lately. We’ve been doing 1000 piece puzzles, playing board games during the night, eating corn chips with salsa and watching a stack of movies Fr Bill got sent from home. It’s been really relaxing at nights

Mum got my CDs that I sent. I can’t believe it only took a week to get there. Check out the photos I put on them!

I saw a funny thing last night. Boys were sleeping on their mattresses on the oval because it was too hot in the dorm. They are so used to each other that they prefer sleeping very close to each other. They actually drag their bunks together and sleep in the heat with arms and legs draped over each other. It’s very strange.

This morning I had a wonderful shower and put on my underpants, only to realise they were full of ants. That rates as my worst experience here on Chuuk so far. I spent a good while searching for the critters and discovered they were in all my clothes. When I investigated further, I realised the critters had found a packet of Arnotts biscuits in my cupboard and had eaten through the plastic wrapping. It was not a good start to the morning.

Finally, happy birthday Andrew for the 12th and Matthew for the 14th! Have a great day!

So now I’m going to sleep, and you’re probably tired too after reading my overly long blog.

Until next week Arivaderci!

Chuukese Feasting

2006-04-03T19:50:00.000+10:00

Now that the WASC visit is over and our entrance exam duties are complete, we have been focusing on track practice and lazing around. Jeremy and I veged out on Friday and watched movies for a change.

On Sunday 27th I decided to shave and get rid of the fuzz. It’s good to be clean-shaven again. I know Em was very pleased. All the kids thought I looked really young. Mazza also rang that night and it was so great to hear from him. While talking to him we freaked out when a big rat jumped over Jeremy’s legs and ran into the kitchen.

The last week we went to some lectures on track coaching that were given by Terry. They were pretty good, but a bit too much like PE lessons back at home. Otherwise, things were very quiet.

Pressure for the big track meet is building up. Track practice will almost be over soon. Tomorrow I have to wake up at 4 to go downtown for the beginning of the marathon. All the boys and girls are getting very excited now. On Thursday afternoon field events start, and all day Friday has the main events. It’s a long process. I heard that the competition between schools is very big. Our main enemy is Chuuk High. Everyone wants to beat Xavier, and some of the schools can get out of hand. Last year, boys were blatantly cheating, and teachers were cutting corners during the staff relay. The year before, the police were almost called in! It’s a high risk event! We checked out the long jump pit recently at Anderson Felid. It had grass covering the edges, was half full, and so compacted it was like jumping onto concrete! Jeremy and I will be giving a speech on Wednesday to psych up the team. I don’t have a clue what I’m going to say.

I did have a good laugh when JC, one of the boys, led the girls for a track practice. He started off so confident and then fell apart as he realised how hard it is to train those whinging, whining, giggling girls. I thought it was very funny. One day I forced the girls to run three 1 lap races. For them it was torture. They were moaning and groaning, refusing to run, giving me the dirtiest looks I’ve ever seen, huffing and puffing, limping, claiming they were going to vomit. I forced them to do it all, but felt horrible inside. And then at the end of training most of them thanked me and said they really enjoyed it. I just can’t understand them!!!

On Monday night the local priests came up for a meal. It was very nice, with a couple of bottles of Australian wine, cheese and a big meal. One of the dishes was turtle. I tried a piece and it tasted nice, but I just felt so bad eating a poor defenceless turtle so I didn’t eat anymore.

No fooling occurred on April Fools Day. But I did play Xbox with TR during the day. He brought it up from home and I played basketball against him. I never thought I’d be playing Xbox in Micronesia, that’s for sure.

Last Saturday night was a fantastic night. The Micronesians cooked a special Chuukese style dinner, complete with sitting on the floor and using you fingers to eat. They even asked the men to serve themselves first, in true Chuukese style, and all the women wore skirts. The food consisted of grilled fish (tuna and others), fresh crabs from the mangroves, boiled octopus, breadfruit, tapioca (a sticky, hard, sugary vegetable) , coconut, bananas, octopus soup (it was purple), fish soup, chicken soup (by far the best) and lots of rice. The food was very fresh with the chicken being killed by Joel only a few hours beforehand. The meal was wonderful and the atmosphere was great, and we lay on the floor very content after our meal. Afterwards we played ‘catch phrase’ - a very quick-thinking and loud game. We were screaming and laughing up until 10:30pm.

The next morning at 6:30am we practiced track at Anderson oval for the boys. They are fast. I had a bacon sandwich for breakfast which made me feel spoilt!

Other interesting moments:

I saw a crossdresser recently. It turns out there is just one on Weno, and it is the local hairdresser. Chuuk now has everything!

The local cat had 4 kittens also. They are adorable, but now only 1 remains. There is an evil white cat prowling around and killing them

I watched the movie ‘On The Beach’ after reading the book. It was funny seeing how Aussies were portrayed in this black and white classic. The entire soundtrack was comprised of different variations of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ too!

Lily and a few others are eager to head up to camp on one of the mountains and check out the old Jap guns, o that may be planned soon. I may also get an opportunity to dive soon – Truk Stop do morning dives on Saturdays and Sundays.

Tyson left Xavier on Thursday to head home – his father died. He was only a freshman.

I also discovered a shipment of Aussie food arrived at Chuuk. I stocked up and bought Arnotts Arrowroot and Nice biscuits. I also ate some Bulla ice-cream. Go Aussies!

One night we watched a Korean comedy ‘Crazy First Love’. It was hilarious, and so stupid!

The dry season is almost over, and we are getting showers more often. You can normally see a black cloud over the ocean, and then rain suddenly buckets down for a good ½ hr and then suddenly disappears leaving blue skies. Its nicer running around on the oval in the rain than it is walking all the way down to the Jap. dock for a swim.

I organised another CD and letters and sent them all off on Monday. The CDs have lots of pictures that hopefully you will all be able to check out when they arrive in a few weeks. I got a call from home on Sunday and can’t wait to get the package that Mum has just sent off.

Also today I got another letter for Grandma at Singleton. Thanks Grandma!

And that’s all the news so far. I’ll have lots of pictures of the track carnival for you this weekend! Until then…

Nic

Happy 16th Birthday Em!

2006-03-28T17:41:00.000+10:00

The Xavier Welcome Song

2006-03-27T18:36:00.000+10:00

CHORUS:

With smiles on our faces,
We welcome you to this special place
Where our hearts share a beat of unity
Full of life, full of love
Full of colors sent from God above
We are proud to sing in harmony
People come, people go, but in their hearts

they’ll always know that we are one family

I. Up here at Mabuchi, is where the love is true. The stars are brightly shining upon our destiny. As we sail down through life, as navigators of peace

II. We stand tall and firm, enthusiastically, sharing our priceless bond, amongst everyone. Living out our pride, ut omnes unum sint…
(that all may be one)

WASC week

2006-03-27T18:33:00.000+10:00

Last week was really great, and very busy. It was nice to break up the routine, which is starting to get a bit boring. It is so true when the teachers say that if you’re not busy in Chuuk, you go crazy (as some of the locals have).

On the Tuesday after my last blog (14th) the Juniors arrived back from the Emmaus retreat. It was clearly a very powerful retreat, just like Kairos at Aloys. I went with the Seniors to welcome them back at a hall. There was a slideshow, cake, food, music, flowers: everything ready and waiting at 11pm. In true Micronesian style, they didn’t arrive until 3pm and we scoffed down the food before everyone headed to SDA (another school) for the final volleyball match of the season. We won.

('BT' with frangipani necklaces for the returning Juniors)

The rest of the week was very slow and tiresome. We had a visit from the Australian ambassador on Thursday 16th. I was looking forward to it, but she only said a quick hello, and was formal and serious.

Non has finally arrived home after many weeks recovering from pneumonia in Guam. He is a very funny guy who can do some great impersonations. The boys love him. It was funny talking to him at dinner one night about Japanese pronunciation. Many of their works are derived from western words. For example ‘Maconalds’ is pronounced ‘macoodonalodoo’, and ‘radio’ is ‘rah-jio’!

The food here, although repetitive, still tastes good. Yesterday the JVs cooked an Italian feast for the faculty. It was so great to eat something different, and I realised how much I missed eating Italian at Leichardt back home. At the moment I crave licorice bullets and pumpkin soup. My favourite meal of the week has been grilled red snapper (I thought you’d like that Dad), with spam sandwiches a close second. The snapper tasted superb, especially compared to tinned mackerel.

The Japanese classes (sophomores, juniors and seniors) were busy practicing that week for the song contest in Chuuk. Makoto, their teacher, recorded them and sent the CD off to the head of the Japanese volunteer group who is organising the event. It was great to sit and watch them. I particularly loved one morning sitting under a hut with the sophomores, listening them sing a beautiful song with the guitar playing as the rain drummed down on the roof outside. This was one of the many memorable moments over here.

As you know Friday 17th was St Patrick’s Day! It was a fantastic day. First I went to Jackie’s class where she was teaching the freshman to dance the samba. It was very funny, especially where the boys were paired up with the boys. We had a small gathering at the Jesuit house to celebrate that night, before many of us headed to Truk Stop for karaoke! It was hilarious, and I sang ‘Land Down Under’ (left), while the funniest song was Chris Dwyer’s rendition of ‘Can’t Touch This’. Karaoke didn’t finish until 12 at night, and I woke up at 6 the next morning to take the boys down to Anderson Oval to practice track. Their reaction to the Chuuk High boys who were waiting at the oval was very funny - there was lots of tension in the air.

(JVs Chris Luthi and Jackie Truncelletto at karaoke)

On Sunday 19th, a day before the WASC team (left) arrived, the boys were busily spring cleaning the classrooms. It poured down that afternoon, but it did not dampen their spirits. The WASC team (by the way, WASC stands for Western Accreditation of School and Colleges) arrived. It consisted of 3 people - Dr Lagory from Hawaii, Mr LosBanos from Hawaii and Tanya from Rota. We all sat in the Callaghan hall and sang many Xavier songs, before the kids from each island group performed their cultural dances. The dark hall limited the amount of photos we could take, but it was fantastic.

Both boys and girls sang beautiful songs, wore colourful costumes, beat drums, performed highly energetic stick dances and chants. It was fantastic, and I know cultural day will be even better. There was a big feast afterwards for Alumni, sponsors, and the WASC team. It was such a good day I almost forgot Mum and dad were calling. It was great once again to hear news from home.

By Wednesday the WASC visit had finally ended. The visitors had meetings with all the staff, and walked around observing the classrooms. They asked some pretty tough questions and read out their report on Wednesday afternoon. Xavier needs to improve their safety procedures, counseling and teacher training, teacher retention and technology (ie computer). These were all fair points. Last year when there was a fire in the dorm apparently all the students ran towards the fire and put it out. No fire drill there! It was funny listening to the WASC team as they discovered Xavier was the only school in Chuuk that had a curriculum and that the local college is bogus. It’s hard for them to apply American standards to Xavier.

I also loved hearing Fr Bill tell us how text books used to disappear and reappear with all the pages torn out in the old toilets.

On Saturday morning another Aussie arrived at Xavier. His name was Terry, a volunteer in his mid 50s traveling around Micronesia teaching coaches and students about athletics. He coached the boys very well, and ate lunch with us at Xavier. Turns out he lived around my area in Sans Souci as a kid, and was a history high school teacher. He loves studying Vietnam and Nazi Germany, and went to Wollongong Uni to study arts! He also knew a lot about athletics in Australia. He was a fascinating guy. Today we listened to him give a lecture on athletics coaching.

On Sunday Br Dave, Lily, Jeremy and I hiked up to the Japanese lighthouse (left). It commands a view of the whole reef surrounding Weno and most of the island itself. We sat on the very top, looking down on Xavier (below) and the rest of Weno. It was beautiful and only an 1hr there and back.

Other events:

* I tried ‘Coolaid’ with mango (Coolaid is added to water to make a drink. It is very salty and disgusting in its crystallized form, but the kids love it.)

* Jeremy got a package from home containing food, chocolate, clothes and DVDS. I loved eating the Tim Tams. Even though they have them here, the Tim Tams from home taste so much better. What shocked me was it cost $90!

* After the WASC visit, both teachers and students were exhausted. We ate ice cream and cake on Friday afternoon with the kids to celebrate which was so yummy. The dinner on Sunday night prepared by the JVs was also part of the teacher’s celebrations.

* Today I also received your letter Aunty Joyce! Thank you very much – the snail mail is slow, but it is wonderful to get a letter from home nonetheless!

And now I have another week ahead of me. With the big track meet in 3 weeks we are frantically coaching the track team. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Nic

More Snapshots of Xavier Life

2006-03-15T17:15:00.000+10:00

The only street signs in Chuuk!

The Xavier water tank (1 million gallons)

View from the huts

Les Froggies!

AJ & the French helicopter

The local Sapuk village kids

Snapshots of Life At Xavier

2006-03-14T21:01:00.001+10:00

Sunset at the huts

Japanese dock swimming

Micronesian laptop (called a 'lap')

Sunset at Blue Lagoon

Saturday night by the kerosene lamp

Oreos - the Micronesian version

Building the huts

Running to Tunuk for track practice

The Frogs

2006-03-14T11:32:00.000+10:00

Hey all!

I’m still alive and kicking over here, although drenched after a week of non-stop rain (which is very unusual considering it is Micronesia’s dry season). It was welcomed by the whole island though, who had been in a drought for a month. (nothing compared to Australia!)

I am amazed that everyone has started uni back home! Life has actually been fairly quiet in the last week, and it was only until the weekend that it started to get interesting.

The kids have gone crazy for mangoes lately, ever since the small green fruits began to grow bigger. There are mango trees everywhere, but unlike me and most other sane people, they like to eat the unripe mango. It’s so tart and crunchy and horrible, and they are all climbing the trees like monkeys to get at these things! According to one kid, “Old mangoes are for old people!”

The week was full of more statistics and marking. It seems never-ending and boring, but I try to break it up with reading, and basketball, and tutoring and mucking around with the kids. Everyone is preparing for the WASC visit, during which a committee inspect Xavier to see whether or not to give it accreditation. It is a very important visit, and the teachers are busy preparing work, while the kids practice their stick dances and songs at night, and repaint and renovate the school. The dances are very cool to watch.

Xavier has had quite a few visitors of late, including many loud American tourists, the Czech and French ambassadors and a group of French sailors! A French navy frigate is currently anchored in Chuuk now, and they invited the JVs to a cocktail party on the boat on Friday night. I wish I could’ve gone! It was very surreal for the JV’s to be immersed in Western culture so soon, with French food and champagne. The girls got very good treatment from the charming French sailors, who tried to woo them with their accents! They showed them around the large boat, and even in the helicopter on deck! (as if this isn’t flirting!) Jackie was laughing so hard afterwards because whenever she reached for food, the sailors said “You should not eat that for it would ruin your beautiful figure”. Personally I would’ve melted like butter!

During the latter part of the week the heavens opened up and we had some great wet weather activities. We coaxed the girls out onto the field to run track and played basketball in the pouring rain. It was great fun. The slight drop in temperature has affected everyone, even me! I’m feeling cold in 25-30 degree temperatures!!

Half the faculty and the Juniors left for an Emmaus Retreat (similar to Kairos) for the weekend. The rest of the staff celebrated by having pizza at Truk Stop. It was great, except for the torrential rain that drenched all of us sitting in the back of the tray. Luthi was driving fast to get to the restaurant quickly, but in the process hit some big ditches. So we had a very bumpy and very wet ride there, and turned up to the place soaked through. Pizza never tasted so good!!!

I’m settling in very nicely now, and am very popular with the kids, especially the volleyball girls, According to Eleanor, they think I’m friendlier and nicer looking than Jeremy!

Sunday was an amazing day. We had a visit from the Frogs again, this time they turned up in their helicopter, having a joyride around Xavier. They circled the school as we looked from the roof, and then zoomed across the roof past us at eye level! They were so close, and it was amazing to see this giant hunk of metal fly past so close so quickly. It made my day! I watched King Kong that afternoon (an amazing movie!). After dinner, the heavens opened up again, and it rained the hardest I have ever seen it rain. It did this for an hour, and the oval and courtyard were flooded completely with 5 cm of rain. Jeremy and I were in swimmers making skids down the slope on the oval, dodging the frogs as they jumped everywhere across the grass. It felt amazing, and it was so nice to dry off and sit next to the candles (the power failed again) with a cup of tea, listening to the thunderous roar outside. Apparently, the locals downtown were soaping up and showering outside in the street at that time, because that was the highest water pressure they had ever had for a shower!

We went walking up a hill today to visit the 1 million gallon water tank that supplies Xavier with water. It has a great view from the top, and I hope to get up there at sunset sometime soon. We also met some wonderful kids from Sapuk, the closest village, who loved to get into any camera shot they could. They also love to give you the finger, because they don’t exactly know what it means! Seriously!

This afternoon was a real workout when Fr Arthur forced the whole school down for a run to the next village. It nearly killed half of them, and Fr Arthur was chasing them down the road on a push bike. They were exhausted, but it was a great afternoon nonetheless.

Tonight is very quiet, as we wait for another weekend, busily preparing for the WASC visit. The school year is quickly coming to an end. This week we will prepare for the WASC visit, next week well be entertaining the WASC visitors, the next week well be celebrating the end of the visit and preparing for Easter, the week after will be Easter celebrations, the next week will be final exams, and then the term is over!

I was surprised to discover how many teachers are leaving at the end of the school year. Eleanor, Deacon and Joel (Micronesian teachers) are all going home, and Joe, Chris and Adrienne (the Americans) complete their programmes and head home. That leaves us with no math or physics teachers, and 1 teacher to teach every class in English and history. Only 2 JVs will come to replace them, so who knows – I may be head of the maths and physics departments next term!

Hope everything’s going well in Oz. Take care

Nic

Glimpses of the Pacific in WWII

2006-03-13T09:35:00.001+10:00

1945
Chuuk
The MOEN radio station now Xavier High School

1944
Chuuk
Japanese ammunition ship bombed by US carrier. February 16, 1944

1944
Chuuk
Ships Task Force 58.

1944
Chuuk
Zero in distance being shot down over ocean.

1945
Chuuk
Dauntless dive bombers over Chuuk Lagoon.

1944
Chuuk
Japanese flying boat "Mavis" shot down. May 7, 1944

Chris Luthi Says Hi!

2006-03-05T18:35:00.001+10:00

Hello all once again,

Another week has been and gone, and I can’t believe its March already. I got word from Mum and Dad that my CD has arrived in Sydney, so make sure you see the photos and songs I have sent over!

Track practice has been going well, and I’m learning the Micronesian way of doing track. For one, the field is square rather than oval and only 300m round. Therefore you have to cut sharp corners and somehow manage to keep going fast. It’s very strange. The boys love to compete against each other in relays while I am trying to convince the girls that flinging your arms wildly into the air won’t make you run fast, neither will laughing or eating when you’re running (one girl actually was eating!) The tutoring has been going well, and the statistics work on the entrance exam is slow but not to bad. We break up the day by attending things like Makato’s Japanese class practicing for the big Japanese song singing contest!

With the beginning of Lent, the bishop has asked the boys abstain from rice, so on Fridays we don’t eat rice at Xavier. It seems simple to you and me, but the kids feel tortured, even though they only miss out on rice for lunch. One kid was begging Fr Arthur to give them rice for lunch, and it really is hard for them, which was surprising.

On Tuesday 28 Jeremy and I went to St Cecilia Elem. School to give a presentation about the entrance exam results. It went well despite the shocked silences. On the ride there, these kids from the local school followed us down the road and talked to us - they were adorable. Like most of the students in Chuuk, they only attend school from 9.00 until 12.00, and many kids don’t even attend school. It was weird seeing all the kids walking the streets bored in the afternoon. On the way home that day, we saw a dog fight, and a cock fight (I've already seen lots of cat fights) so it was fairly eventful. Tuesday night is always pasta night, and I discovered TR never wants to see spaghetti meatballs ever again because the menu has never changed for years!

I found a copy of the last Harry Potter book which is awesome. Also, when having a shower and drying off I discovered ants had crawled onto my towel and were all over my body, so I spent ages picking them off me (just thought you'd like to know). The following days were very bleak and wet, so it was a little depressing.

The volleyball match between Xavier and Chuuk High was amazing on Thursday. The kids were screaming and singing, and it was an intense atmosphere. I have been having a great time with the girl's volleyball team and this is where I have earned the nickname 'kangaroo'.

An extra treat was discovered when Jackie's mum sent over a copy of the Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony. That was great to watch, but the aussies fashion was fairly disappointing. The US commentary was hilarious though. My favourite moment was when the US commentator informed us that the Renaissance started in Italy! (just in case we didn’t know)

I wish I had a picture but I met an adorable little girl from the Sapuk village yesterday. She was only 9 or 10 but brandished a huge knife bigger than her forearm. I almost died! There is no fear of kids wielding sharp instruments over here!

This weekend has been very slow and relaxing, like most of the others. The JVs left for a JV retreat over the weekend, while the rest of us watched Lord of The Rings! The island power stopped yesterday and won’t be on for 3 days since the man in charge of switching the power off at night failed to do so twice in a row. Therefore island power continued in the early hours of the morning, and now the government can’t pay to keep the power on for 3 days. That’s Micronesia for you!

Also there was a big fire on Saturday night at 11.00pm when a stray candle apparently set fire to a building, which also had gasoline cans out the back. We could see a bright orange glow down in the valley and smoke and screams drifted up to us at the hill. It was very spooky. No one was hurt though!

I also decided to bike ride downtown on the brand new $100 bikes, only to discover the chain snapped 100m down the hill. Of course I had to walk back up the hill with the bike, so embarrassed as villagers watched me trek back to Xavier, and bloody annoyed at the quality of stuff in Chuuk!

So that’s about it so far. I’ll try and add some more photos, and hopefully Xavier my be getting broadband soon so fingers crossed.

Cya

Nikki, nickel ass, nicolette, nic or kangaroo

By the way, check out Jeremys blog for more photos (but mine's better!) It's micronative.blogspot.com

Jeremy's Gone Wild!!!

2006-02-26T13:36:00.000+10:00

Hey all!

Things are going very smoothly over here at the moment, as you can see. We have already begun the fourth quarter of school, and since my last blog, here is what has happened:

Jackie and AJ (2 of the Jesuit Volunteers) had their birthdays – we celebrated at the Truk Stop Hotel (the nicest place in Weno).

Jeremy and I went downtown shopping with the boys – I thought it would be a quick run down. We all crammed into the tray of the truck and on the roof and it turned out to take 3 hours as the boys visited every supermarket in town. I stocked up my supplies of Coke and Pringles. To my surprise I discovered a 1kg bag of Milo! Awesome!

Mum, Dad and Em called on Sunday night. It was so nice to hear about Ed Hasting’s service and news from home!

Played ‘Harry Potter Wizards Chess’ with the boys on the weekend. Also am reading some good books, including Dan Brown, George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and ‘Life Of Pi’ (the school library is fairly good).

Track practice has been going well. The boys love the spikes Jeremy brought over, but we still need a few more pairs. Mr Lobo is looking into it which is great! Hopefully we might get a package sent to us in the next few weeks. Jackie has been taking the endurance kids for track.– its been hard for me, but the boys are loving it!

Weekend work for the boys never ceases. Some unlucky souls had to shovel grease out of the kitchen’s grease trap (which is basically a seedy outdoor pit where all the gunk runs down to). Shame I didn’t get a picture of it – the kids didn’t look to happy. Also the prefects have the great job of stirring the septic tank every two weeks and adding a chemical to it. One kid came out screaming "Im allergic to shit!" while the flies buzzed around the room. Prefects get real privilieges at Xavier!

The JVs have a ‘community night’ each week. This week we were invited to join them in a game of “frolf” or “discgolf” around the school. We threw frisbees at night all around the school, trying to aim for the “holes”. We had frisbees thrown through classrooms and corridors and off roofs (one went straight up and fell onto Fr Arthur’s roof while he was sleeping).

On a sad note, Non (a Japanese Jesuit) has had a bad case of pneumonia for the past week. He left for Guam hospital a few days ago.

The big news of the week was when Fr Arthur made public the results of the entrance exam for Chuuk. Now the whole island knows that only 2 Chuukese students will be offered a place at Xavier next year (ie. Only 2 got over 65%). This is DEVASTATING! Everyone is very shocked, especially since one kid is Japanese! It means that the tradition of having Chuukese students at Xavier may soon end. The results are alarming and we had a public meeting yesterday to explain the data to the parents and principals. We used excel graphs to show the gradual slump that has been a result of putting education as the lowest priority in Chuuk. It also means Jeremy and I will be very busy during the summer break helping teach Chuukese students in the elementary schools.

On a good note, we finally finished marking all the exams from all the states! I’m so glad that part is over!

On Saturday 11th we went to the Blue Lagoon Resort for a staff retreat. We only stayed over one night but it was wonderful. Sitting under the shade of palm trees, with air-conditioned rooms and hot showers and comfy beds. It was very relaxing. I particularly loved drifting on my back in the water at sunset watching the sun set on the hazy islands in the distance. It was magical!

I am slowly getting to know more of the students. They still speak very softly, which really gets me! But the younger kids are coming to tutoring for maths, which is encouraging. Their musical abilities with the guitar and piano are great – the older kids pass on what they know to the younger kids. There has also been a frantic pace (in Chuuk standards) set by the students to finish off all the huts. They look fantastic and are great chill-out areas. I’m still getting acclimatised to their culture, and the slow time here. There is never any rush, and things in Australia that you expect to be obvious (like turning up from track practice on time) is not over here.

The resource room was renovated, and all the computers were put in there. It is the teacher’s chilling space, where they can work, listen to music and watch movies.

I’ve been enjoying the food still. Some luxuries include banana cake with CHOCOLATE ICING (Ann hadn’t had icing in a year at Xavier!). We had frozen pizzas for dinner last night which was beautiful! I’m loving french toast and pancakes for breakfast some mornings. You have to be careful with the chicken though – it is always undercooked in Chuuk.

Tuesday 14th was VALENTINES DAY! Happy Valentines Day Em!!! The boys gave the girls some chocolates and lollies and cards which was cute. On weekends when the girls are with their sponsor families, the boys will walk around with shirts off, but as soon as a girl comes on campus they rush and put their shirts on and dress up for them. Its hilarious!

I watched the senior English class perform renditions of Hamlet. They were so unprepared, yet so funny – nothing like the Hamlet I knew last year.

On Thursday morning the staff did a big bag inspection looking for beetlenut and snuff. Beetlenut, although widely accepted on the island, is banned at Xavier, and the habit is very hard to break. While going through the bags Jeremy found a plastic bag full of powder that a girl claimed was salt. It turns out kids commonly carry around salt to add to their coulee - us Aussie’s didn’t know this so Jeremy tasted it. Consequently the girl who owned the salt was nicknamed “The Cocaine Dealer” and the students found it hilarious.

New language pronunciations: We have been teased about the way we say ‘z’, our ‘serviette’ is called ‘napkin’, ‘thongs’ (the footwear) are called ‘slippers’. When I told the girls to take their thongs off for track I got very strange looks!

The JVs were bored Saturday night so they cooked up oatmeal cookies and pudding. It was a wonderful treat. I also drove Eleanor and some kids up from mass to Xavier yesterday night because there was no other driver. I was very rusty on manual! It was a bit of a start-stop ride and I felt extremely embarrassed when we finally arrived.

The huts were finally completed and blessed by Fr Arthur on Saturday. They look great. Kids are starting to practice dances for cultural day, and Jeremy and I have to think of some uniquely Australian things to do. Does anyone know any truly Aussie food that we can show, apart from Vegemite? Otherwise it'll be some blue singlets, thongs, an esky of VB and a few snags on the barbie for Aussie cultural day!

I sat in on Jackie's psychology class, in which she was talking about physical attraction. The kids loved it, and I loved their responses.

I tried my first 'Goobers' - ie. a jar of peanut butter and jelly. It tastes terrible. Oreos are very addictive though.

A huge German cruise ship appeared in Chuuk yesterday. German tourists came onto the island in carloads and visited Xavier. I practiced my German accent, but could not find any Halters floating around. It was really strange to see heaps of Germans just appear out of nowhere!

So that’s about it so far. Please keep emailing me and telling me your news! I don’t know what will be happening in the next week, but I will keep you updated. We may be getting broadband soon so the updates may be a bit more regular! Take care.

Nic

Life at school

2006-02-08T12:21:00.000+10:00

Ran annim!

Here are a few events of the last week or so. Time is really flying fast!

1) Went snorkeling at the Japanese dock (pictured left). You can only swim there because it is away from the shore, which is littered with rubbish around the whole island! There is no sense of conservation over here, thats for sure. Interesting sites along the way included boat and car wrecks (including an island of cars in the water), pig stys, rubbish everywhere ('trash' if youre American). On the way to the dock , I found a massive tree that had fallen over some power lines and discovered it had been there for over a year. The electricity still works!

2) When arriving at Xavier high school, we met in the hall and were sung a welcome song by the students. It was amazing!! They are all very musical - most kids can play the guitar or piano very well. They are also confident singing, and when combined with the girls, the mass songs sound beautiful. On the topic of music, I've been catching up on the latest songs, many in Chuukese of course. My favourites so far are the Chuukese versions of the Beatles.

3) Power cuts are frequent over here. Since our office has no windows, if the power goes off we're stranded in pitch black until the generator is started up.

4) Attended the annual Dance Night - just like the Aloys dance, it was cramped, hot, loud and hilarious. These kids like to dance (particularly breakdancing) and they're pretty good at it. They spent the whole morning preparing and cutting their hair. There are no hair regulations over here, so some of the hairstyles were wild. The kids also love gel over here and they go through it by the tub.

5) Tried tropical icecream for the first time. I didnt realise it consisted of corn bits and cheese. Also tried sashemi (raw tuna) - not bad, but slimy. I highly recommend never trying dried mango skin in your life! Oh, and of course, coconuts are in abundance.

6) Japanese tourists visit Xavier regularly for the view. I was surprised to see them taking photos of themselves standing next to the student's toilets. One woman was taking snapshots of the pumps under the toilet block as well! Fr Bill came up with the idea of planting beautiful frangipani trees right next to the toilets - it doesn't completely disguise the horrible smell though.

7) We have discovered the boys are addicted to 'Smallville'. They just want to see Lana Lane so Fr Arthur has devised a program to get the boys to do work. He calls it 'Lana for Work'.

8) A picture of the Annual School Dance:

9) The first day of February was "Crazy Day" - a day designed to improve the mood at the school during a boring, slow time of the year. Teachers swapped classes and all the boys and teachers dressed up, including BT with a fashionable thong! (see below)

10) The next day was a big event in Chuuk standards. The 'nuncio' (pope's representative) visited the island. There was a big mass downtown with all the other Catholic schools. Palm tree leaves decorated the hall, and the singing and costumes were amazing. This was followed by a lunch, with a magic show provided by Br Dave and breakdancing by the boys.

11) Athletic season has begun, and Jeremy and I are co-coaches with Fr Arthur. The boys just moan and groan all afternoon as they run - they are very lazy. We're slowy introducing rugby and cricket. We even found some bats and balls in the sports room. Basketball is easily the most popular sport though, and the kids are really good at it.

So that's about it at the moment. We are nearing the end of the 3rd quarter and everyone, both teachers and students are tired! A staff retreat is coming up in the next week, and more exams have arrived that require our marking expertise.

Please excuse me if I am slow to reply to emails or update this blog. The internet is slow, unreliable and when it works, all the staff need to use it. I'll try and post more pictures if i get time. For pictures of the school, visit the Xavier website: www.xaviermicronesia.org

Cya

Nic

Pics From Chuuk

2006-01-29T10:54:00.000+10:00

These are shots of the stylish showers and my new bedroom...

I've arrived!

2006-01-29T10:12:00.000+10:00

Hey all!

Well I’m finally here on Weno Island and I tell you, it was quite a shock! My expectations were sooo wrong! If you thought this was a culturally backward, primitive island where I would be ‘ruffing it’ then you are so wrong! Here are a few things that have happened in the last few days:

After a long and boring plane trip we arrived safely at Weno airport. The runway was so small that I thought the plane wasn’t going to stop in time. We have arrived during the cooler season in Chuuk so when we hopped off the plane we were met by a nice cool breeze and milder temperatures. That’s not to say that when we tried running around that afternoon we almost died of heat exhaustion. The breeze was non existent today and I really missed it - it was sticky! But so much for acclimatising - when arriving we were shown into our new office which has air con!!! So I’m writing this email in a beautiful air-conditioned room on an Imac computer! Their computers are very good, and they have lots of technology here - boys have discmans and stereos and music! They were playing one of my favourite Beatles songs (Oh-bla-di, oh-bla-da) in Chuukese in the truck on the drive up to the school and as for the school here, I’m surrounded by lots of up-to-date Western music and DVDs! We’ve spent a couple of nights watching movies which I didn’t expect.

We met all the JVI (Jesuit volunteers), a few priests, some Japanese volunteers, the local Micronesian workers and Fr Arthur. They are all wonderful. We had a huge feast on the first night, and the local bishop and his clergy came up for a big gathering. Our room is nice, with a cool breeze keeping you comfy at night. The bed is a bit lumpy - and so far that’s been the only thing here that isn’t good. I expected terrible food - how wrong I was. The food is amazing - meat (chicken, pork, beef) and fairly fresh. Spam tastes good, they have soups, fish, chips, potato dishes, meat dishes, cereal, pancakes, coke, ice cream!!! Not much fruit though. I am definitely not going to come back skinny!

The views here are amazing, and the school, although a bit dirty on the outside, is just great. We can chill and have a drink with the staff on the roof each arvo and relax. We have been marking entrance exams lately – it’s long and boring but it has to be done. We may teach after the summer break but have begun some tutoring.
The kids here are just great. They were so eager to meet us. But when they speak with quiet accents I find it really hard to hear them. Their names are also unusual (very hard to remember). They welcomed us with a song which was just amazing and they are really friendly. They love playing basketball and volleyball in the afternoons - we are trying to introduce rugby slowly. They are lazy at school (it’s that sort of culture everywhere on these islands) but they muck up and fool around just as much as Aloys boys do.
The rest of the town is pretty simple. I haven’t travelled right around yet, but the houses are little shanty houses on the water. The trash is dreadful here - all along the roads. The roads are not too bad, but lots of car wrecks everywhere - sitting in the water too! Xavier is very clean and sanitised compared to the rest of the island. The staff toilets are as nice as the ones home in Australia. The shower has no water pressure so we fill up a big bucket and pour it on ourselves. It’s beautiful having cold water to wake you up, especially when you’re hot.

I went to the Japanese dock yesterday for some snorkeling. I hope to try scuba diving sometime. One of the teachers here is also a scuba diver so I may have a mate to go with me. There was also the big school dance last night in the gym. It was just like the Aloys dance, and the kids were very funny dancers. They liked my ‘kangaroo hop’ dance a lot.

That’s most of the news so far. How are you all at home? Don’t worry about me at all - its really like a luxury island paradise over here!

Nic