The Red Flower

Chuukese girl: “Bun iea”
Me: “Burn ire”
Chuukese girl: “Bun ieea”
Me: “Burnn ieea”
Chuukese girl: “Bunnn ieea”
Me: “Bunnn ieea.”

That’s pretty much what it sounded like when a bunch of local girls tried to teach me how to say “flower” in Chuukese earlier this week. I was seemingly hopeless to mimic their accents, but none the less I tried my best, and the conversation ended with all of the kids giggling and wanting to teach me more words. It was excellent. The whole thirty minutes I spent with these kids probably left me feeling the happiest I have felt since I have been here. Learning the word for “flower” was only a very small piece of the experience. Let me tell you more.

It was Monday afternoon, the first afternoon I went running after participating in the local volleyball game (see below for more on it). I had already run through the village of Penia once and was headed back to Xavier. The kids threw a volleyball at me as I ran past them and in their minimal, broken, yet very enthusiastic, English said, “Stephanie, practice, practice.” The ball, which was literally falling to shreds, was more like a kickball than a volleyball. As I “peppered” with the kids for about 10 minutes, a group of older teenagers played a game in the street. The net was held across the street and if a car came through, they just lifted part of it so that the car could clear the net (Try to imagine this happening on the one main street of where you live with a bunch of little kids running all around. It still gets me). At one point when I was chasing the ball, I fell on a huge metal pipe that happened to be right next to the road, of course making a couple kids laugh and then later leaving a huge bruise on my butt. It’s always okay if I laugh with them so having a sense of humor helps. If you know me at all, you know I am used to falling. I wouldn’t have survived this long had I not developed a sense of humor around it, so I laughed also.

Then I saw one of the little boys that typically pesters me when I am running. He’s probably 4 and his name is Dumber (pronounced Dam-bear). He’s a little shrimp, but he has the personality of a “big kid” on the streets. I decided it would be a good time to actually try to “meet” him. So I walked up to him and tried to give him a high five (which I learned nobody does here and had to end up teaching some of the kids). Now that I was actually giving him attention, he ran away from me. Even though last week he was bold enough to pinch the back of my thigh as I ran by, he was all of a sudden the shy one. I ended up sitting down Indian style talking with some of the girls, ranging from age 10-early 20s. They are all really nice to me and somewhat look out for me. While I was sitting, Dumber came up and threw a flower at me. The girls around me got angry with him and said something to him that I didn’t understand. I put the flower in my hair and thanked him anyway. Then one of his side kicks came up and gave me another, which I also put in my hair. Now, Dumber wasn’t as scared of me anymore and nicely handed another one to me. I put this one at the top of my head and he laughed. With time, the mood seemed to lighten. While I am still a spectacle, I think that the people are slowly coming to see that I want to become a part of their community, rather than an outsider. In general, I think that the overall reputation of volunteers and students at Xavier is the opposite. The physical location of Xavier (on the top of Mabuchi hill in the “jungle” of Weno and away from the “downtown”) and the fact that it is for the most part an English only environment separates or isolates it a lot from the local community. Essentially, a large effort has to be made to overcome the obstacles of geographical space and language. Continuing on with the story…

As the sun was starting to set, I decided it was time to head back. Running up Mabuchi hill in the pitch black would not be fun. It’s not as if there are street lights even if the island power is on nor are they paved the way we are used to. Plus, while the locals knowing me by name is a positive for my personal safety, it’s still smarter to take precaution when I am alone. So I started to head back. Here comes the best part of the encounter. I had been running for about 20 seconds when I heard little screams behind me. I looked back and Dumber and his sidekick, Ansoor, were running toward me. “Stephanie! Stephanie!” I stopped and as they ran towards me, they both held out their hands to shake mine. I shook their hands, smiled, and said good bye. Now while it might not mean much to you to earn the respect of four year olds, I believe the encounter as a whole was symbolic of much more. I ran home at ease, listening to random calls from other neighbors, “Good morning, Stephanie,” (Yes, good morning at sunset…It makes me smile also.) It is not easy to enter into a place where you are the stranger. Although you may be educated or “American,” you are not familiar with Chuukese life or the culture and language of Weno. If I have to say one thing, this experience has challenged me to be confident and outgoing thus far- to continue to demonstrate to the people here that I want to learn from them as much as I want to teach them. It was memorable and I don’t think I will ever forget that afternoon with the red “bun iea.”

Now I know that was a long story, but hopefully you enjoyed it. I want to tell you a couple more things. As for the volleyball game on Sunday (my first game with the locals and the day before my encounter with Dumber)- it went well. My team won. I was pretty nervous. I knew that I would be the spectacle. So of course once I stepped foot on the court, everyone cheered and clapped. Margaret, my coach and the wonderful woman who has been so helpful to me in translating and such, assured me that they were saying good things and cheering me on. I told some of the girls on my team that I was nervous – most of their responses were “Why?” Of course, these games don’t really mean anything and are just for entertainment and local competition. I had to explain to them how I was the one that was different, the one that everyone was watching. Then, I asked them if they would be nervous if they went to the US and played in front of all Americans. They quickly shook their heads yes and smiled, understanding now where I was coming from. All in all, it was good to sit among the locals- rather than within the group of “white people.” I still have to get used to some things, such as playing in a long skirt and not following the rotation I am used to. However, with all things said, I’m really excited for this opportunity.

Some other notes:

Since I last spoke to you, we have had 2 ambassadors visit Xavier. First, the US Ambassador to the FSM and just today, the Australian ambassador to Micronesia (includes Palau, FSM, and the Marshall Islands) visited. It is a huge deal to have the ambassadors come to Xavier. Not only does the director make it a huge deal, but the students interpret it as meeting a celebrity. Last week when the American ambassador visited, one of my advisees looked at me with a giggling giddy look and literally while fanning herself, said, “Oh my gosh, Ms. Stephanie, meeting the ambassador, that’s like a dream come true.” I smiled and let her be very happy. If only she knew how many ambassadors there are in the world and that they are pretty much just people like you and me. Anyways, walking out of the presentation today, one of my sophomores turns to me and goes, “I don’t want to be rude, but I think the American ambassador was better. She made us laugh, rather than just laughing at herself.” I just smiled and agreed.

As for classes, both of my Biology and Chemistry classes have taken their first quizzes. The averages were pretty average- some A’s, mostly B’s and C’s, and some D’s and F’s. However, I have since learned the biggest obstacle my students are facing right now is knowing how to take notes. While a lot of science is taught through experimentation and demonstration, it also includes lecture. And for the most part, the students here don’t know how to or just don’t take notes. If you write a word on the board, then immediately copy it into their notes, but distinguishing what is important is apparently extremely difficult. For the most part, they have had little experience with taking notes or creating outlines. Next task- to figure out how to improve this situation without babying them! So…to say the least I am respecting teachers a lot more now. They have to work hard! (Not that I ever doubted that, but it is a lot more than I ever realized). Right now, I have about 40 lab notebooks waiting to be graded, I feel as if I just finished the last batch of 30, and I have 30 more coming in tomorrow.

And I can’t leave you without mentioning on a smaller note….The nurse at Xavier and I think that I had heat exhaustion or the beginnings of such (extreme dehydration) yesterday. I know that’s not actually a smaller note, but a big one. I had been on the roof of the school for almost 4 periods of class for a chemistry lab. Well, another lesson learned – bring an umbrella next time! The roof is covered with a silver reflector that basically resembles what “crazy people who want skin cancer really bad” use at the beach to get an ultra-tan. So, my cure was a cold pack, LOTS & LOTS & LOTS of water, and sleep. I thought I had been drinking enough water…more next time. It wasn’t so fun that island power has been terrible lately which means no fan. We went a week without any and then only had half power (randomly selected, only half of outlets work). We have been told we will only have intermittent half power until November because of the budget, so we’ll see. I know that was a long blog…hope you made it through. Miss you. Love you. Talk soon.
Peace,
Steph

P.S. I woke up this morning with this thing on my face. The nurse thinks either I got bit by a roach (on my face!!! gross!!) or that it could be a boil…ugh! perks of Chuuk.