Summer Switch of Islands

Currently, I am sitting on a flowered wooden couch in the smallest house ever in Pohnpei, FSM where the JVs here live. I have lived in this house for the last 5 weeks with two other JVs, Mike from Xavier (Chuuk), and Samantha from Pohnpei. In one week, Philip, a JV from Pohnpei will come back from Chuuk, and the next day Mike and I will say goodbye to Philip and Sam for another 9 months until we meet again at the end of out JVI experience. Mike and I will arrive back to our home in Chuuk to have our new JVs arrive the next day. After they arrive, we start a series of Phase II orientation events; talking to people, adventuring around Chuuk, getting to know one another, and going on a 20 hour boat ride in the vast, open Pacific Ocean!
This all sounds like quite a lot in a few days, but I’m ready and excited. The summer in PNI has been wonderful and I do not regret switching islands and placements for the summer, but I am ready to go back to Chuuk and excited to meet our new people! I can’t believe I’m more than half way done though! I don’t feel like I’ve been here that long.
Anyhow, what did I do this summer in PNI? Well, I was the Director of the Higher Achievement Program. HAP is a program run by Xavier volunteers and people closely affiliated with Xavier (AKA me) for to be 8th graders at the top of their classes from all elementary schools in PNI. My job was to plan field trips, make sure logistics were done, take care of the budget, and just make sure things were running smoothly. To be honest, the job wasn’t so hard. There were moments of high stress such as during our field trips making sure all 61 students and volunteers were with us, respectful and so on, but the planning wasn’t so bad.
I learned a lot through being director, and got to see a lot too. For the field trips we went to Micronesian Seminar (www.micsem.org) and I got to see more in depth what they do for FSM. We went to the Local Food Community of Pohnpei and had a presentation from the Conservation Society in Pohnpei, which I got to see both of these presentations and go to the LFCP and see their place. Then, the two coolest and hardest field trips came-Nan Madol and the Capitol at Palikir where we met with the President of the FSM. These were awesome although STRESSFUL! Nan Madol is ruins in PNI created in the 1200s I think and mark the lands of the highest ranking chief because of the prime location and history of the people in the area. It was the first time I had seen ruins, therefore it was pretty awesome. I was also met by a lot of hospitality of the local deacon and parents. Finally, yesterday we went to the FSM Capitol at Palikir. This fieldtrip may have been less stressful in planning, but I would say it was the most stressful and coolest for me once there. When we got to the Capitol, the tour guide did not show up. I went into the Dept. of Edu office and they called him. He arrived 45 mins later so I had 60 13 year olds bored for 45 mins. I decided to walk around the buildings with them and tell them what I could about each of the government offices but I am no expert in government and what happens in each office. Luckily I had gone through the 3 branches of government with the students the day before and some other information so I was able to quiz them along the walk. Still, we got back to the bus and the tour guide still wasn’t there. When he showed up he had a lot of energy and humor and all turned out great. At 10:30 we had a meeting with the President of the FSM, Manny Mori from Chuuk. This part proved rather stressful too. The president was in his office and ready for us, very hospitable, and honestly, I have a good impression of him. Anyhow, as we went in to sit down, the presidents employees told me to go sit up front next to him-eeek…I’m a 23 year old teacher. How am I the person that should be sitting next to the president of a country in front of a large group? Anyhow, I did as asked and the tour guide presented the group briefly, passed it to the president’s office, who passed it straight to me….shoot, what do I say?!?! So, I spoke a little more about the students and the group, the goal and so on, and then passed it to the president. WOOSH! He spoke to them with great humor and honesty which I appreciated. Then they asked him questions which we prepared beforehand. He answered the questions very humbly and gave us a ton of time. He talked to the students about the value of their education and the need for leaders with honesty and education. I was thoroughly impressed with him. All at the same time though, I was watching my students talking and laughing in the back of the room, directly ahead of him and me, and girls poking each other with pencils and covering their faces. I was 100% embarrassed! They were being so disrespectful in front of the president! I say that, yet some of them were truly captivated by what he had to say and listening intently. I was so proud of those students.
So, I met the President of the FSM (technically again) and really like him. He has a bad rep on the island I think, but he was great to us, seemed very humble, and like he’s doing the best he can with what he has.
Next week is the last week. 3 events in one week…and a speech from me at graduation…EEK.
Then back to Chuuk!!!! Yeah!!!
****2 weeks later and I’m not back in Chuuk. The 20 hour boat ride got canceled…agh! And the new people are here. They rock. My speech and all the events went great and I look back on HAP and know it was the right thing for me to do over the summer. I gained so much. I’m happy to be home now though and getting back to SCA!
Stop reading here if you don’t want reflections on the islands.
So, Pohnpei is very different than Chuuk. Admittedly, I have been living in Kolonia and not the outer municipalities of PNI. Even so, Chuuk does not have a Kolonia. PNI is much more developed and the students generally speak better English than in Chuuk. There are a lot more expats working here, more places to go to, and constant power. Living in Kolonia compared to downtown Chuuk is totally different! I’m not sure if I saw enough of Pohnpei to say this, but I feel like Chuuk embraces their culture more and has more of a small town feel. In PNI, I see girls wearing mini skirts, short shorts and pants more rather than the local skirts and muumuus which has been confusing to me. PNI seems much more…westernized? Time and travel has shown me a lot more simple, natural island life in Chuuk’s lagoon islands. This difference in the islands has been hard for me. I don’t really know what to think of it. I’m not sure if one is better than the other. Yes, Chuuk is less developed but seems to have more of the cultural pride. PNI is more developed but seems to have less of the simplicity of Chuuk. Is one better than the other? I’m not sure. I know being in PNI it has been really hard for me though to see Pohnpieans wearing skimpy cloths. To me, it seems very disrespectful to their culture (which I am not fully part of so can I say that either?) I feel differently about women in the states wearing skimpy cloths (I’m still not a proponent of it, but it is much more accepted in the US). Seeing girls showing leg here breaks my heart. Loosing the traditional values of their home and the sacredness of legs shows westernization rubbing off on the people here. It’s a visual sign of westernization to me.
I’m not sure that cultural change and westernization is really a bad thing, but I do think it needs to be integrated into traditional culture. Some good can come from the western world, and some bad can come from the western world. As I think about the contrast between the two states, I truly hope that integration of westernization can be done in a way that also embraces and keeps their culture to its fullest.
I’m still trying to process the difference between Chuuk and Pohnpei. I’m not sure that I ever will understand it. I have theories but nothing that I find to explain things. I don’t think one place is better than the other, just different. I see strengths and weaknesses in both sides of westernization in the islands. My heart is obviously in Chuuk, but it has been great to be in PNI, meet new people, go to movies and bars, have electricity, and even a hot shower…yes, I got to take 2 hot showers while here! AMAZING!
One thing that really bothered me here though was how often people say that Chuuk is a horrible place with horrible, violent people. Most people have only seen Weno, and for a brief time. Similar to what I stated, what I saw here is only a sample after 5 weeks. I can’t fully talk about PNI, yet people here think that once they’ve been to Chuuk for a day, they can quickly agree with what others have said, that Chuuk is the unwanted step child of the FSM and not a good place. I found myself defending Chuuk over and over again and being frustrated with their quick glance opinion of my home. There was no shame in slamming Chuuk to my face. Again, I reiterate, Chuuk is where I live. I would never say your home is a POS, especially not to your face, so please, think about how much you’ve seen of a Chuuk before slamming the state-hence why I restate over and over again that I don’t know if I have enough experience in PNI to even say what I have said.
So to conclude, I restate, I do not think what I have seen in PNI nor Chuuk is bad. I simply think it’s different and don’t know how to understand the differences yet. I don’t think I understand either place well enough to decide what I have seen. These are just thoughts after spending 11 months in Chuuk and 1 month and 2 weeks in Pohnpei, which can be completely flawed from what someone would understand after much longer.
Enough writing.
With love,
Jessica