Pohnpein Perspective

Perspective is a crazy thing. When I was training at Oberlin for soccer, as a goalie, our coach had us (my counterpart Clayton and I) do this exercise that exploited this fact. We were made to try and stop shots taken on larger and larger nets, until we were standing between two full-size nets doing our best to stop any shots being fired at us. After doing this for a while, we went back to a smaller sized net and it felt tiny - like the posts were right beside us. We felt infinitely more confident and able. Like many, many exercises and activities of the sort, it exploited our use of perspective in our game - what was doable, what was not. What was close/far.

Whatever. The point is that the experience was no less dramatic for Colleen and I, returning to the state of Pohnpei for a second time after ten months in Chuuk. We stopped by Pohnpei on our flight to Chuuk back in August, and spent a few days here, before heading to our final destination and future home. During that time, we didn't think much of the place, although our second year JVs from Chuuk praised it and seemed to glorify the mundane in it. Silly things like "the roads are SO nice here" and "enjoy the 24hr power." Now, after 10 months in Chuuk, our return to Pohnpei has been full of similar exlamations.

The first day here we went to visit the house of Tim and Greg, the Pohnpein JVs, where we can't stay because they have to build a new wall in preparation for a new JV next year, and I almost died on the way back. In Chuuk, if a car is coming up behind you, you have about 5 minutes from when you hear until when it will eventually get to you. Even then, it's usually a better idea to look behind you as it gets really close to see whether you moving to the right or to the left would be a better idea, given the location of whatever holes and/or ruts are in the vicinity. In Pohnpei, however, cars will just go straight and you have about 5 seconds between when you hear a car and when it gets directly behind you. My reactions are not used to this, so I almost didn't make it out of the way. When finally my brain registered that I need to get out of the way quickly I jumped off the road as the car flew past. A bit of a wake up call.

And there does indeed seem to be power on 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. I do wonder how much this fact alone accounts for the development discrepancies between Chuuk, specifically the island of Weno, and Pohnpei.

Not only is Pohnpei "hooked up" as it were, we also are fortunate - and extremely thankful - to be staying at the Jesuit house here in Kolonia town. A beautiful, relatively new residence it provides us spacious and comfortable rooms, with our own desks, fans, and sinks, a place to eat with great company (the Jesuits themselves) and food made by a talented and joyful cook (Nini) as well as access to this place, the Micronesia Seminar (a treasury of history and information on the islands), and a truck (from time to time). How was that for a sentence? Nothing, compared to this place as a place. Kolonia itself is overflowing with luxuries. There's even a movie theatre - with three screens! It costs money, so we'll probably go once, maybe twice, but the idea alone is exciting. And of course, like Chuuk, it has its own natural luxuries. Beautiful hikes, places, and people.

Tim, Colleen and I are going to be running a summer school program here for high achievers, so there will be some work to be done, but the principal of the school we'll be using commanded that we not work too hard. He said, "two bits work, three bits play at least." Ok. :)

The summer is shaping up to be a good one! *knock on wood*