The end of the year is finally upon me. There are only 2 more weeks left until my departure and next semi-adventure in Australia. I realized that I haven’t written in here for a while: the internet at Xavier wasn’t working for over 2 week, but more so everyone has been busy with end of the year business: finals, grading, award ceremonies, dinners, meetings, events, and of course graduation.

Before the chaos of finals descended, the last stretch of the semester was filled with restlessness. It seemed mostly everyone was generally content to sit around campus reading, sleeping, and waiting for power to turn on, but I usually felt the need to break away and go on a hike or downtown or even just out to eat. I encountered some interesting situations and even more interesting people, not always in a good way, but it was worthwhile to experience a little more of Weno. I have a new appreciation for hitchhiking, even though I would never do it back home.

The night of their last final, the seniors came up for the annual dinner with the faculty. We cooked all the food and gave out some joke awards. It was nice to interact with them as a group outside of class. This past Thursday was the Baccalaureate mass. We went to St. Cecilia’s Church at Tunuk, a little closer to downtown Weno. As usual, most of the day was spent waiting around for things to start. The ceremony itself was nice, though almost 2 hours late. Afterwards, the buses took the girls home so the teachers and male students had to wait. All of us were sweaty, dusty, and hungry and even more put off when it started to rain and we all had to huddle under the inadequate shelter of the Church steps. As much as I’d like to think otherwise, my complaining, irritation, and anxiety in such situations leads me to believe I haven’t acquired as much patience here as I would have liked to.

Graduation was scheduled for the next day at 10 am, but of course didn’t start until 11. All the teachers had to wear matching outfits – red and black muu’muus (or in my case, a dress) and Hawaiian shirts. The ceremony took place at the Xavier basketball court (thankfully under tents since the day was incredibly hot). The junior class set up a stage with decorations, seating, and a large graffiti-style sign congratulating the “Praetorians.” The guest speaker was Emmanuel Mori, the president of FSM. It seemed difficult to conceive of him as the president of a country – he was wearing a pink and white Hawaiian shirt and a lei. Nothing necessarily distinguished him as a person of major importance, even his extremely serious demeanor. His speech was good, but the speech of Kayviann, the senior valedictorian, was better. She had such fantastic energy and spirit and spoke so clearly, it was hard to imagine her growing up on an even smaller and less developed island than Weno. She’s going to Loyola Marymount next year, but I hope she decides to come back to Chuuk and help her home state which is in such desperate need of competent leadership. The mission of Xavier is lacking in one major aspect – that so many of its best and brightest leave and never come back. I’m not sure I can blame them. Life in Chuuk is difficult, but these difficulties are certainly not alleviated by leaders who leave and lead elsewhere. Me and the other volunteers who are leaving this year were recognized, which was nice. Afterwards we took pictures and receded into the coolness of the main building to scavenge for food after the important VIP people had eaten. At night, they lit torches and we had a massive feast with parents and students. All together, I ate pig, breaded fish, octopus, hot dogs, spare ribs, crab pasta, potato salad, cake, and coconuts. I ended up getting sick from all the food, but I think it was worth it. I had practiced hula with some freshmen and sophomore girls, but the entertainment didn’t end up happening. Some students sang on stage and music was played, and most energies went into trying to get students to dance.

Now, since the chaos has died down, there’s even less to do. Students and other volunteers are already leaving, and I’m supposed to be thinking about all I have to do before I leave as well. It depresses me though, so on days when I can’t get a ride to town, I’m more likely to sit on the porch watching DVDs until my laptop battery runs out. My plane leaves in about 13 days and I just can’t wrap my head around that!