A Room with a View

Seasons Greetings.

Three weeks have passed since my arrival in Kosrae and still, every day is new and educational. The challenge for me is to figure out what you want to read on this blog -- whether to write about the 1 year old’s birthday where I was presented with the honorary pig’s head, or about the incident last Wednesday night when I awoke to frantic knocks on my door, followed by my roommate yelling “Tyler, get the machete!” ……(False Alarm)……

My first two weeks on the island I lived with my two host parents and two of their daughters. The family was extremely hospitable; immediately immersing me in the local culture. Breakfasts and dinners consisted mostly of the following: rice, chicken, pork, crab, spam, pancakes, eggs, bananas, breadfruit, taro, tuna sashimi and the occasional Frosted Flakes or donut. Orientation took up most of my time during these first two weeks, though I was able to sneak some canoe racing, snorkeling, and surfing into the schedule. In the evenings, I would often go to the elementary school that was behind my host family’s home -- oddly enough, the sandy beach behind the school has an incredible wireless connection.

This past Wednesday I moved into a 3br, 2ba house with two girls from our group. To complement the country music that is usually enjoyed on our porch, the front yard has more than 50 palm trees, banana trees, papaya trees, pantana (a fruit that you chew on like sugar cane) trees, and a garden of snap peas. As for the animals/critters -- we have an abundance of frogs and geckos in and around our house, a cat that comes and goes, the occasional fruit bat, and six chickens who typically loiter on our land here. The chickens currently serve as decent alarm clocks, though next week I think I'll put my machete skills to the test for the sake of a few tasty and free meals. Both of my vegetarian roomies are fired up about this...

Only a small two lane road separates our front yard from a white sand beach; and although we face the North side of the island, we still have a good view of the sun setting in the West.

None of the fruits in our yard (except coconuts) are ripe yet, and so my diet since leaving my host family has consisted mostly of peanut butter on saltine crackers, coconut water, tangerines, and macaroni and cheese. Fish/crab are much less abundant than you’d imagine living on an island; though now that I have the aforementioned machete and a flashlight, I’ll be able to fish for my own dinner in the water across the street from our house. I’ll let you know how this goes…

There is a great surf spot about a half mile up the road from our house, and the waves couldn’t have been better last Saturday. Hopefully we’ll get some pictures soon. The tide is coming back in as I type...wooooo!

Today was the first day of school, though our first full day of classes is actually tomorrow. I’m very happy about my schedule: two classes of Algebra I to the 9th grade advanced students, two classes of the same Algebra I to 11th graders, and one class of 12th grade English/SAT Prep.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Cheers.

Currently Reading: The Alchemist
Currently Listening to: Billy Currington