Pohnpei stopover

I am currently in Pohnpei, Micronesia residing at a Jesuit house with some brothers, priests, and other volunteers. I arrived yesterday around 2pm, PNI time. The flight itself was fine - just long - and all of the stops the Island Hopper makes can be exhausting in their own right. I departed at Majuro with Richard, an older Kosraen man I met on the 4am shuttle to the Honolulu aiport, who was on his way home with his wife and child (I often had to babysit the baby on the plane while his wife walked around or prepared her daughter's bottles in the bathroom). I made the mistake of also getting off on Kwajalein where I was ushered into a police/immigration building. I had to find an American officer and get escorted back on the plane. After that it was mostly smooth sailing. I was alone after Kosrae since Richard and his family departed, but it was only a 40 minute flight from there to Pohnpei. Soon I'll be picking up Greg from the airport as well.

I can't believe how hot it is here - hot and BUGGY. Last night while sitting on the upstairs porch, I was attacked by some kind of small crawly inch-worm like thing that goes under your clothes and just creeps around. Spiders, mosquitoes, geckos, and ants are everywhere. So far I've noticed a few different kinds of ants, one of which is small but bites with a vengeance. Feral dogs are also very common. They roam the streets and go in and out of houses more frequently, it feels, than people. I've been told the dogs at Xavier are friendly and loyal, but also vicious to trespassers.

Everything seems so dirty to me, but that's probably because I'm used to an overabundance of sterilization and cleanliness common in the states. Shoes are hardly ever worn, and the general population lives in extraordinary conditions. Poverty is overwhelming. Children are friendly, but sometimes not clothed and usually not washed. After walking down main street and visiting some stores, we walked to the JVI house and on the way I noted many doorless, shoddy houses made of stone, metal, and wood. In one of these, I noticed two people lying on an empty, concrete floor with no bedding. This morning while I was eating breakfast, two children came to the house asking if they could pick some of our oranges. They are allowed as long as they don't climb the tree, which presented a problem since the children were small and most of the lower fruit had already been picked.

The island itself is beautiful - the trees and flowers are out of control. Today we were hoping to Kepirohi, an extraordinary waterfall on the other side of the island as well as the Micronesian Nan Madol ruins, but it doesn't look like we will be able to find a car, and there's not much time now anyway since Greg arrives in about a half hour. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing more of the island later on with him if we can, and of course I'm hoping to have time to explore Chuuk before orientation and training.

Wireless seems to be failing a little, so I'm going to sign off and get the status of Greg's arrival. I'll update again soon!

- L