Flight, Twin Falls, Church, Big Waterfall, Mr. Rat

Hello Friends and Family,

I'm now in Pohnpei. I arrived on Thursday, August 11. The flight was long. I flew to Honolulu and stayed the night there. I took the bus down to Waikiki and walked the shops and the beach for a little while. It's not quite as fun by yourself. Then I bought a piece of cheesecake at the cheesecake factory. Then I headed on the long bus ride back to my place. I went to sleep and got up at 4:15 Hawaii time. Our flight took us from Honolulu, to Majuro, Kwajulane, Kosrae, and then finally to Pohnpei. Majuro was a lot smaller than I imagined it would be. The island is shaped like a cheerio. It was water in the middle of it. It's not a perfect circle, but I'm trying to give the effect. Therefore you don't have much space from water point to waterpoint. It's very small and flat as well. Kwajalane was similar to Majuro. You could see Ebeye from the plane. It's about a mile long and less than that wide. And it's incredibly populated. I can't even imagine living there for a year. When we flew into Kosrae I became encouraged. It was beautiful. It's mountainous and green. I arrived in Pohnpei around 2:10 pm. When I stepped off the plane I expected to be hit by a heat wave, but it was a fairly cool day. I felt the heat the next day though. The pastor from Guam was on my plane. The pastor from Pohnpei was there to pick us up. But we had to wait for Mr. B to help with the luggage. One I arrived at the apartments I barely had time to do anything (I didn't even unpack) before we left for one of the waterfalls. The waterfall was so beautiful. It had a jumping rock that was fun as well. I was even able to climb up behind the waterfall and dive through it. It was incredible. That evening I went looking to get my books, but we could only find student versions of my two history courses. The next day I received my Science book on the way to teach science class. That was interesting. So they got another easy break for that day. I'm hoping to have my syllabus out to them by tomorrow. In case you don't know, I'm not teaching HS science anymore. I'm teaching 7th and 8th History and 8th Science. I'm happy with it even though it wasn't my first choice. I think it will be fun. Science is Period 1 and 2. 3 and 4 is 7th Social Studies. And then chapel (Friday's only). Then I had a free period. But it wasn't really free cause I was frantically trying to do things that the other teachers had a week to do before classes started. Then for the last two periods of the day I had 8th grade History. The kids were good. But everyone warns that they are good the first couple weeks. They test your limits and then figure out how far they can go. So we'll see.

Yesterday, Saturday, we had our first church service in the Kolonia church. Evidentally they were at another church the week before. But that was before I was here. The pastor from Guam did a 3 sermon talk on financial success secrets, such as managing your money, saving, tithe, etc. After church we had potluck. Everyone brought out a ton of fun. I had to pick and choose since I'm a vegetarian. However, I did try a piece of the Parrot Fish. I think it was Parrot fish. I'm not sure. It had a very strange texture. It was chewy and fluffy. It's hard for me to explain. One piece was enough for me. It was kind of tasteless and just kind of grossed me out anyways. Maybe later this year I will write you and be saying how much I love the fish. But not yet. The best thing at the potluck was the pinaple and banana bread. Oh, and the homemade bread! At the potluck I chose my Pohnpeian family. This is something they do for the SM's. It's like we're adopted for a year by one of the church members. My ladies name is Erina. I wasn't able to meet her though. She wasn't there. So maybe next week. They put a flower wreathe (I don't know what it's called here) on my head and pinned a corsage to my shirt. Then we went back for another financial talk. We finally left the church around 4:00.

When we returned we changed into swimming attire and left for another waterfall. It was a long drive in the back of our firetruck (which is what we drive around). It started to rain. So we stood, holding onto the back of the truck, dodging banana's and palm branches on our way. It started to rain. The drops of water hit our face. While some girls were ducking to try to avoid as many raindrops as they could, I was standing soaking it all in...literally. I love it here. We went on a long hike to get to the waterfall. I saw a waterbuffalo on the way. The hike was muddy because it had just rained. I was only in flipflops and so it made it a very difficult and slow walk for me. On my way down I managed to cut a gash in my heal. Fortunately for me it was mostly the callus that was cut. But it hurt cleaning it. The waterfall had a 40 ft cliff jump. I didn't do it. I jumped from a lower spot. But a lot of people did do it. We swam for a little bit, but couldn't stay long since we didn't leave until after 4:00. When we returned I had my apartment mates (Melissa, Tiffany, and Erin) help clean out the wound. I would hold one of their hands as the other tried to distract me. And one, Melissa, tried to clean it out. But everytime she started, I flinched. So she would stop. She couldn't bear to hurt me. So she went and got John, one of the SM's. He came and cleaned it out. Then he cut off the flap of skin with his knife. We put some antibiotic ointment on it and put a bandaid on to keep it clean. Once that adventure was done I decided I was really hungry. I wanted to have a piece of toast with my lentils that I cooked the day before. So I pulled out the drawer under the stove and our little friend was there. Yes...our little friend, Mr. Rat. He has been a constant menace. He has chewed several things. I ate a hole in Tiffany's backpack. He also likes underware. We will find underware in holes in the house cause he dragged them there. He's eaten two of Tiffany's underware. He also stored food that he found in tiffany's clothes drawer. Poor girl. He also ate her vitamins. So when I told her I saw the rat she ran over to the oven drawer saying "I'm going to kill it!" She stuck the broom into the drawer and scared him out. He went running across the counter. She didn't see him. But the other three of us started screaming and jumped up on the couches and chairs. She responded by screaming and jumping on a chair as well. She still says she didn't see him. Well, Joey, one of the SM guys came over to help us kill it. I've found that many guys enjoy to hunt and kill rodents. I don't know why. But I'm extremely grateful for the effort. But this rat is smart. He sets off the rat trap first, without getting caught. Then he eats what's on the trap. Joey has tried multiple ways. We have rat poison, but we're hesitant to use it cause we don't want him to die in some place we can't get too and have him stink up the apartment. At night you can hear him...or other rats...running in the cealing. Yuck. We haven't caught him yet. But I'll let you know when we do. Our efforts so far have been in vain.

Well, I should get started on my syllabus and lesson plans. I have a lot of catching up to do. I'll talk to you soon. God bless.

Erin Abston