Visiting Kehproi waterfall (photo by Stacey) I am bottom left
After this LOVELY Friday afternoon venture, we got back into the truck and headed back. Unfortunately, since we only have one truck for over 20 of us, many have to stand in the back and hold on. Well, unfortunately the roads in Pohnpei are ridiculously overgrown and have low branches - demanding frequent ducks to avoid being whacked in the face. But since the truck was so crowded it was hard to duck...so while traveling 30-40mph a low solid branch hit me diagonal between my eyes. Ow. Immediately I keeled over in tears as the pain was excruciating. Mostly, however, I was afraid I had maybe lost or damaged my vision in my left eye. We stopped and I went into the cab - my poor roommate Carley was freaked out because my tears were bloody. My vision seemed okay, and although my head was on fire and my eye was very painful I knew I would be fine. Lots of of alcohol, cleaning, and antibiotic ointment has helped and two weeks later you can hardly tell it's there! But...for about a week I looked very creepy....
Carley and I in church the next day. Church, and teaching for the entire week became a long series of "your face! Oh goodness - did someone hit you?" type questions. :)
The week dragged on but was fueled by our excitement - Friday was departure day for a weekend at Black Coral (Kehpara) - "E bon cola Kehpara" (I'm going to Black Coral, according to some of my students). We left Friday for a short trip to our launching point. The boat is owned by the school, and the first trip was taken by the principal, Mr. Edwards, all our luggage, and a couple SM's (including me). The boat ride was absolutely breathtaking. It's so amazing being in Pohnpei. Knowing you are only 6 degrees north of the Equator - the place with the most solar energy in the entire earth. Being here we are at the same latitude as Uganda, Ecuador, Singapore, and more! It's goofy, but somehow being near the equator seems like some unifying force the connects places that are on the opposite side of the globe. Knowing that here at this latitude, we all experience the same kind of weather patterns, pressure patterns, etc. It's fascinating. I wish my geography students found it fascinating...
Well, we got there after about 20 minutes and started exploring the small beautiful island that gives you a perfect view of Pohnpei! We found the "best" hammock spots and set up camp.
Photo stolen from David. View of Pohnpei from Black Coral plus a view of our transportation.
This weekend has been fairly uneventful. After a short week of being stuffy, sick, and so tired - Friday met us with open arms. Today was Sabbath, and it was fairly uneventful. We had a Potluck here at the school, and I took an enormous nap from 5-7. We just finished a THRILLING game of Monopoly. Somehow I survived for quite a while even though I managed to not get ANY properties!?? Thanks to my nap I'm wired even though it's almost 2am. I've been reading so much here, currently I'm reading "Into Thin Air" - making me feel all the more adventurous and excited about traveling, even though it's about a tragedy, err. My new goal: traveling to every continent. Antarctica cruise here I come :) Someday. For now I will just relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy the constant slightly damp and moldy-infused smell of my new home.
I'll finish this post with a couple pictures from Freshman Welcome Back Bash last Thursday Night. (TOP) - A Few of the upper class students showing off their amazing SKILLS! Well, shortly after this the branches got hot and they all dropped them, so Mr. Edwards had to quickly pick them up and take them out of the gym, hahaha. (Bottom) - some of my favorite students and I outside after the party.
Well, we got there after about 20 minutes and started exploring the small beautiful island that gives you a perfect view of Pohnpei! We found the "best" hammock spots and set up camp.
Photo stolen from David. View of Pohnpei from Black Coral plus a view of our transportation.
We spent the weekend enjoying "chill" time. Monday was Liberation Day so we did not have to worry about rushing back to prepare for classes. We hung out hammocks on palm trees, cut down coconuts and struggled to make fire in this wet jungle. We ate too many ramen noodles, scarfed down coconut candy made by our principle, and cherished Carl's package of smores ingredients. We stayed a total of friday, saturday, and sunday morning there. The coolest thing to do was definitely snorkeling. The water was so ridiculously clear and blue, crisp waves crashing against the coral beaches, full of sea life to discover.
Some of the wildlife I found included seeing THREE Black-Tipped Reef Sharks!! It was so amazing. We knew there were many out there, so we just went exploring, waiting, and hoping to see one. While swimming out with David I saw one just swim by about 10 feet from me on my left. My eyes expanded so fast I forgot to breathe through my snorkel. Later we saw two more, each time was just as exciting as the first. I can't wait to snorkel and hopefully eventually scuba dive some more. I've never been in water so amazing, so pure and untainted.
Yes, we got rained out of our hammocks one night. 3am rolled around and we all climbed out of our "SWIMMING POOLS" aka, hammocks. We all tried so hard to ignore being wet and fall asleep...but soon enough My headlamp turned on, then David climbed out of his tall hammock, and Marcus and Carl's headlamps turned on, lastly I woke up Carley and told her she was drowning- ha! We all cuddled up in the grass-roof hut next to our hammocks and tried to make ourselves somewhat comfortable. The next night we totally maxed out on rain protection. My hammock has a tarp attached to it, so I was secured tightly to the ground by huge coral rocks and I stayed completely dry and comfortable. All of us slept dry even though the rain poured on top of us.
We got in the boat and said goodbye to Black Coral. Home of the beautiful channel full of sharks and the entire cast of Finding Nemo. Although, after two days of salty hair and wearing slightly damp coconut stained clothes, it was nice to take a shower. Next time I'm bringing a sweater - (I used my wet, salt water towel as a blanket one night....I was so cold).
Some of the wildlife I found included seeing THREE Black-Tipped Reef Sharks!! It was so amazing. We knew there were many out there, so we just went exploring, waiting, and hoping to see one. While swimming out with David I saw one just swim by about 10 feet from me on my left. My eyes expanded so fast I forgot to breathe through my snorkel. Later we saw two more, each time was just as exciting as the first. I can't wait to snorkel and hopefully eventually scuba dive some more. I've never been in water so amazing, so pure and untainted.Yes, we got rained out of our hammocks one night. 3am rolled around and we all climbed out of our "SWIMMING POOLS" aka, hammocks. We all tried so hard to ignore being wet and fall asleep...but soon enough My headlamp turned on, then David climbed out of his tall hammock, and Marcus and Carl's headlamps turned on, lastly I woke up Carley and told her she was drowning- ha! We all cuddled up in the grass-roof hut next to our hammocks and tried to make ourselves somewhat comfortable. The next night we totally maxed out on rain protection. My hammock has a tarp attached to it, so I was secured tightly to the ground by huge coral rocks and I stayed completely dry and comfortable. All of us slept dry even though the rain poured on top of us.
We got in the boat and said goodbye to Black Coral. Home of the beautiful channel full of sharks and the entire cast of Finding Nemo. Although, after two days of salty hair and wearing slightly damp coconut stained clothes, it was nice to take a shower. Next time I'm bringing a sweater - (I used my wet, salt water towel as a blanket one night....I was so cold).
This weekend has been fairly uneventful. After a short week of being stuffy, sick, and so tired - Friday met us with open arms. Today was Sabbath, and it was fairly uneventful. We had a Potluck here at the school, and I took an enormous nap from 5-7. We just finished a THRILLING game of Monopoly. Somehow I survived for quite a while even though I managed to not get ANY properties!?? Thanks to my nap I'm wired even though it's almost 2am. I've been reading so much here, currently I'm reading "Into Thin Air" - making me feel all the more adventurous and excited about traveling, even though it's about a tragedy, err. My new goal: traveling to every continent. Antarctica cruise here I come :) Someday. For now I will just relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy the constant slightly damp and moldy-infused smell of my new home.
I'll finish this post with a couple pictures from Freshman Welcome Back Bash last Thursday Night. (TOP) - A Few of the upper class students showing off their amazing SKILLS! Well, shortly after this the branches got hot and they all dropped them, so Mr. Edwards had to quickly pick them up and take them out of the gym, hahaha. (Bottom) - some of my favorite students and I outside after the party.
Vampires cry blood also.
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