pohnpei night life

It was dark last night. I heard a noise outside my window that startled me awake. Flip the switch to the light, no power. It was so utterly dark and I had been asleep for three hours. My eyes were all splotchy. Stumbling around my room I finally found a flashlight. Walk out into the living room area, and see around forty cockroaches running around the floor, walls, and counter tops. Great. I went to the bathroom, scanning the toilet for bugs, and found my way back to my bed. It was so noisy outside. Dogs barking, pigs screeching, and creaking noises of cockroaches in the kitchen. Such a bustling night life here in Kolonia.

One night I was sipping hot chocolate while reading a book in my room, (I am addicted to hot chocolate and it's not too expensive here, so I indulge once a night or so) I reached for my cup and took a gulp without looking carefully enough. It tasted funky. Look in my cup: ants. Lots of tiny ants swimming in liquid chocolate. Yum! I gagged, ran to the bathroom and started spitting out as much as I could. That of course did nothing since I had already swallowed everything.
Its really not that bad though. Most of the time everything is fairly clean and bug free. But you know, some days you just walk through the front door and a gazillion ants are feeding on the three dead cockroaches right next to your feet, but it's all kind of just..." oh well."

My nails get grimy here so fast, I have no idea why. My feet are always scratchy, dirty, bruised. I scratch the bug bites on my feet with my shoes, so all the muddiness spreads. I can't get the mud out of my toes from this 6 hour-6 waterfall hike we took last weekend. I wonder why bother anyways. Tonight I went to an evangelistic meeting out in Sokehs. It was in this concrete "noss," the grass-covered, sometimes concrete hut that everyone here hangs out or lives in. It was all in Pohnpeian, so I couldn't understand a word. We drove there in the back of the old red firetruck with a bunch of other locals. I sat in the back with a fellow SM, Katie, and we tried to entertain these two little girls. I gave her a pen and some paper so she was completely absorbed in her "art" :) I can't really explain it but it was so relaxing. After we said our "pwong mawhu's" we loaded back into the truck. I sat on the top of the truck and leaned back to stare up at the stars. I'm not used to being able to look straight ahead and see so many stars. They're all around you. Layers upon layers of stars.

When I stand before the Lord,
I’ll be standing alone
This journey is my own
Still I want man’s advice,
and I need man’s approval
This journey is my own

And why would I want to live for man,
and pay the highest price
And what does it mean to gain a whole world, only to lose my life

And I have never felt relief like I feel it right now
This journey is my own
'cause trying to please the world, it was breaking me down

And now I live and I breathe for an audience of one

This Journey is my Own (Sara Groves)