Natural Pearl

It’s not uncommon that I don’t know what is necessarily going on when I am visiting my host family. I sometimes follow along and smile, even though I am clueless as to what is being planned or discussed. Well, here’s an example where I wish I knew what was happening. My host mom had asked me to visit last Sunday and I was trying to avoid doing any real work anyway after hearing some not so fun news from home, so I headed down to Penia. The children down in Penia always make me laugh, relax, and bring me back to the good old days of innocent fun. Well, a particular boy down in Penia has been trying to talk to me a lot recently. He doesn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Chuukese- you can imagine how far our conversations go. I met some of the girls that I typically visit and they invited me inside their meeting house. They looked excited, more excited than normal, but I just smiled back knowing I could not actually communicate much with them. They looked as if they were waiting for something so I just sat Indian-style on the tile floor and waited. I remember being very uncomfortable, now that we are starting Chuukese “summer” (as if it isn’t summer all the time). Eventually more cousins showed up, including the particular boy. People started singing in Chuukese, which is also fairly common and no reason to become suspicious. So I hummed along not really knowing the words, smiling back at forth and occasionally playing peek-a-boo with the identical twins in my host family. After about 10 minutes, one of the girls stood up and directed me to follow. So I got up and walked behind her towards the front of the meeting house. They pulled out a plastic chair and had me sit in it. This seems to always happen- and it still makes me feel as uncomfortable as it did the very first time it happened. Everyone around me remained on the floor and I was granted a chair as if I am royalty. I sat down and within a couple minutes the boy that seems to want to make smile talk approached. He first handed me a couple unripe mangos- a great treat. I graciously accepted with a smile, responding “Kinisou chapur” (thank you very much). At this point I did not feel as if I was the center of attention to anyone except maybe this certain someone. Then he pulled what looked like local rope from his pocket. He held it out to me and as normal, I accepted. Once I held it in my hand, I looked at it more closely and noticed that it was woven coconut husk with some sort of stone. It was a natural pearl- beautiful and probably very expensive, with a natural, but unpolished shine. I immediately felt awkward wondering if I should have accepted it after all. He motioned that he wanted to tie it to my wrist, so knowing that it is rude here to decline offers of hospitality and gifts, I allowed him. As he cautiously tied the rope around my left wrist and spoke words I did not understand. I smiled and nodded out of ignorance and people around me smiled and cheered Micronesian-style. It was only moments later that I realized that I had just promised myself for marriage i.e. was basically engaged. So I have made some cultural faux pas before, but at this point, all I could think about was how I was going to get myself out of this one. Obviously I could pull the dumb American card, but I have a feeling that would come with more consequences this time. So I actually have done nothing about this yet. I had to leave Penia before it became dark and I didn’t even want to attempt to explain myself and end up “running out of time.” So technically right now I have a Chuukese husband to-be. And while “our” conversations may only be a few sentences so far, I have a long supply of mangos and coconuts coming my way, as well as a beautiful pearl bracelet. I hope you sense my sarcasm. Anyways, if any of you have any thoughts on what I should do let me know. As smart as I am, I was dumb enough to get myself into this one so I hope you enjoyed my April Fool’s! It isn’t quite as good as the cockroach eggs in my skin, but I was lacking creativity! I thought about breaking my leg and heading to Guam but I didn’t want to jinx myself either….

I didn’t think it was too far fetched to get engaged without knowing it. I actually worried this might somehow happen- it kind of did to another volunteer in real life. So that’s a story to tell sometime. As for me I did play a couple April fools jokes today. I gave an April fool’s quiz in Chemistry. It had very difficult questions but in the format of what we had been studying (Lewis Dot Structures and Molecular Shapes). The directions included reading through the whole quiz. Of course, the last line mentioned to “Raise your hand silently to ask a question with only your name written at the top to receive an extra credit point and the real quiz.” Well 29 out of 31 students got it. 2 were fooled! One kept getting frustrated as he would raise his hand and say, “Ms. Steph, this is too hard. You didn’t teach this.” Then, he would turn his paper over and start drawing. I proceeded to turn his paper back over and tell him to read the directions. This probably happened at least 6 times. Meanwhile giggles came from the other students and he still had no clue. Another student found the first quiz “fun” since the problems were intense. This is the same student that inquired about the string theory earlier in the year, a theory related to advanced quantum physics. Needless to say, both laughed a slightly frustrated laugh when I pointed it out to them with a little more hints.

The students are always inquiring about the faculty’s “boyfriends” or “girlfriends.” They make up that certain individuals are dating, even though nobody is, but of course they enjoy starting drama. So I asked if they wanted to see a picture of my fiancée and I told them he proposed yesterday, pointing out that it would have been 2 days before April Fool’s. (I picked someone who is attractive and already known as “a friend of mine” by the students.) They screamed, ran up to my desk and started railroading me with questions. I guessed I tested my lying skills because only a couple thought it was actually an April Fool’s joke. The other’s were asking if they could go to the wedding and what was the date. The best line of the day came when one student asked for a copy of his picture. My response was, “No, I’m not giving you a picture so you can idolize my fiancée!” Now, even the ones who thought I might be fibbing turned the corner. The classes ended with girls begging to have a picture of him and actually one girl stealing the picture and running out of class with it. She eventually returned it and then I quietly whispered in her ear, “April Fool’s!” She stomped her foot and said, “Can I still have his picture?” Oh, high school students.

I hope you all had some innocent fun as well this April Fool’s….Don’t worry I am not going to marry a Micronesian T (well probably….hehe). Miss you. Peace
-Steph