Rambling

Remember Pollap Category: Blogging
I am trying to commit to blogging at least once a week. I feel better when I do (although I don't feel so hot now as my FFFFFF key is not working so well) For all of you dedicated readers... I have also been blogging once in awhile at myspace which you can get to by going to http://www.myspace.com/the_world_is_myplayground and checking out the blog. I also have some pictures posted there...
I have been thinking of my home in Micronesia a lot lately; is this a recurring theme? It feels like it and lately it seems I blab a lot about it here too. My room mate has a machete we use for protection (that's a joke mom) and we bought a coconut a week or so ago at the store. I found myself wondering if I would know which hole to try to open up; I did, and I wondered if I would be able to open the whole coconut with said machete upon completion of drinking the nut; again, I did. Disappointingly, it didn't taste right; but we drank it and I taught (not really) my roomie and pal how to slurp appropriately. Then I cut it open and we ate the meet. Then the other day during lunch during real estate class I ordered this awful chicken and rice dish so I asked for soyu. Interesting story about soy sauce; I think I never used it or had reason to call it by name before Micronesia, so to me, the stuff is soyu which is soy sauce in Chuukese. Anyway, I added it to my rice and wow; now THAT tasted exactly right. I was immediately transferred back "home" to Pollap on a day when someone magically appeared with soyu and we had the good fortune of eating rice three times in one day WITH soyu versus just plain. I think my stomach even started rumbling in remembrance of those days. And finally, there is a spot when I am driving down the mountain from Flagstaff where I am taking classes where the air smells like sakau, not alcohol but the sakau (was it kava?) found on Pohnpei and made from the pepper root. I always thought sakau smelled, as well as tasted, like almost a minty flavored dirt (I must have had that flavor in my days of mud pies). I am sure the smell I get coming down the mountain is dirt mixed with some kind of plant or tree; but everytime it hits me I am brought back to my first day after drinking that junk when everywhere I went in the city all I could smell was sakau.
We are in monsoon season here; you'd think that would draw images of Korea but it doesn't. Korean monsoon were like week long water works. Here we have showers and at times some hard core storms that blow through very quickly. It is an amazing contrast to what the weather had been like. After spending a summer in Egypt I had thought to maybe never see rain in Arizona and maybe just some flucuation in temperature. The rains have been here a week or more and everything has greened up some. Before the world seemed so brown, now it is brown and green, which again feels a huge contrast to me. I have enjoyed it a lot. I could spend my days watching the clouds roll in and then out again; listening to the rumble of far off thunder move closer and wow, the lightning here is like none I have ever seen, even in WI and I think Wisconsin has some pretty amazing thunderstorms. I like the place I am temporarily living; although I miss the house sometimes. Mostly I miss its location and how quiet it was and the sounds I heard in the night there. But alas, I am a person of contrasts and while I love the silence of a country place, something about living in a more urban area appeals to me as well. As I drift off to sleep to the sounds of traffic and people I rather like the thought of life going on around me.
Currently listening : Surfacing By Sarah McLachlan Release date: 15 July, 1997

Barbaric Yawps

Current mood: amused Category: Life
Some of you may recall a blog post I posted at melissadrinkman.blogspot.com back when I first arrived in Korea. It was about the woman at the lake who screamed at it like 3 times and then got up and walked away... remember her? I was jealous of her and her feeling free enough to just do it...
Years ago, when I was in college I used to have this daydream all the time riding in the car with my then boyfriend. I would ride around with him in the countryside of my home and see these vast fields of green; wide open for the taking; practically pleading for company. I would daydream that I was alone or maybe I daydreamed I said "stop the car". In any case I would run my heart out into the very center of these vast fields screaming all the way. Not screaming so much as sounding my barbaric yawp (watch Dead Poet's Society if you don't know what this is). In fact, it wasn't even a day dream but more of an urge; almost a need. When I saw the woman in Korea I was reminded of those days and how I never followed up on my urge; this was that which made me jealous.
Well, I am now living in a city across from a soccer (football) field and I was sitting outside the other morning having this same old urge from my past (what the hell that is all about will have to be analyzed in another blog sometime). I grabbed my house mate and off we went, bugger the people on the field and the people walking by and the people outside their homes. We went to the center of that field and sat down and took turns sounding our barbaric yawps. Then as we were getting up to leave we did one big long one on our feet for good measure. And I must say that while it did hurt my throat; it was also refreshing and releasing and I think just pretty pure - for both of us. As we sauntered back home discussing daily life we vowed to make it a habit. I think we will; maybe we can start a health trend - Yawping. I bet we'd make millions :)
Currently listening : Little Plastic Castle By Ani Difranco Release date: 17 February, 1998

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Reflections

Current mood: Reflective Category: Reflective Travel and Places
I do not write enough of my reflections. I wish I did more.
As I walked this morning I came to a strip mall and decided to walk through it. I wanted to see if the Curves was open but I was sure it wasn't, this being a Sunday. I walked past a Mexican man and he smiled at me so I said hello. He said hello back and I continued past. Then I heard him say, "I like your shirt." and I smiled and turned back and thanked him and that was the end of it. Once home I reflected on this exchange, primarily because of the odd custom on Pollap which goes something like - if a person of higher status tells you they like something of yours, you are obligated to give that something to the person. I also remember odd little customs in Korea that seemed so similar to those of Pollap, Chuuk and Micronesia as a whole. So reflecting on this led me to wonder about Mexican customs and also led me to wonder if I should have taken off my shirt and given it to the man :) Just kidding. I sometimes wonder if I am so comfortable in Arizona because I overhear foreign language more than I overhear English. Coming home from foreign countries is always difficult in many ways; but the language thing is, I think, the hardest for me. After being away and either A. not knowing the language or B. having to concentrate real hard to follow it, I become a master of tuning out conversations. Foreign speak becomes a constant and sometimes pleasant background noise. Then, I come home. And it always starts in the airports and just continues on from there. Suddenly there is not one moment of silence, no constant background noise that can be tuned out, it's all chatter chatter chatter all around me and I understand it all and catch bits and pieces and feel confused and disoriented and then angry or sad or disbelieving or happy; depending on what I am listening to being said. Depending, yes, on what I am eaves dropping on. Anyway, it has come as rather a shock to me to realize I have been here almost 2 months and not even really noticed that, now it seems, a lot of the population around here speaks Spanish in their everyday encounters. I want to learn Spanish and of course, I want to get to know the people who live here as foreigners. I am intrigued, always.
So my thoughts went like this, yes, but since Pollap had popped into my head it seemed right that I should continue to reflect on Pollap. The above mentioned custom was not something overt to me. In fact, I am not sure it was even practiced on other islands as I never heard any of the other PC volunteers talk about it. If it even happened regularly on Pollap I don't know as it seemed I only heard about it when some young punk was abusing it and going around taking things from young punks less in status than he. I do, however, have a memory that I now wonder about... There was a man who I spent a lot of time with both on Pollap and Weno; he was a member of my host family, which was not cool, but I loved him regardless. One day he had on a necklace I had never noticed before and I said "That is beautiful" and he raised his eyebrows (meaning yes) to which I chuckled. Then I said, "I like it very much." And in a blink of an eye he was taking it off and saying, "Do you want it? You can have it." And I did protest but I ended up with it and I put it on and he looked at it and said, "yes, it is very beautiful." This could be the stuff movies in America are made of, no? But on reflection I find myself wondering if in that moment his societal norms kicked in. I wonder if in that moment all he could see was my light skin and blue eyes; my Americanness; my Peace Corps - ness. I wonder if in that moment all he thought about was how revered the PC people are and how he would be doing right by his island to give me that which I said I liked. It's a very funny thing to me because me and this guy talked a lot about how things are different in the US versus how things are on Pollap and I always felt like he "got it" and I do think for some things he did. But how many little things went completely unnoticed to me I wonder. To him as well. How deep are societal norms? Many of the things I liked about him were things completely driven by his way of being which came about because of where he was brought up. I wonder had he come to the US would he have lost many of those things I liked, would a person become re-socialized? I guess probably. Isn't that what typically happens to people who move here? They assimilate? Isn't that also what happens to me when I move overseas? I assimilate to varying degrees? Huh. I need to think some more :)
Currently listening : Strange Angels By Kristin Hersh Release date: 03 February, 1998

On The Road Again

Sunday, July 01, 2007
On The Road Again Current mood: dorky Category: Travel and Places
I am off again. Just a short trip. Things have been crazy in the house I am living in. One of my house mates quit her job and two others have been asked to move out and me and the girl who quit her job are going to move out also and get a place together. Meanwhile she wants to go on a trip and we both got hired at this new restaurant but it isn't open yet. So I gave notice at my job and her and I are going to CA for a week. We also have packed up all of our stuff and will be house sitting when we come back for two months. And then we will get a place.
My friend Joel, who I came here to hang with, is going to live in his RV for a spell; probably until he sells it. All 6 of us are still friends; just changes in the air. It's crazy as it all happened so very very fast. So, I will be out of the online world for awhile again. Or rather, I just won't have everyday access like I do now. We are going to camp in some of the national forests in CA and also beach camp and stop in and see Jules and hopefully pick up a comedy show in San Fran...
Also... considering going into the time share biz :) It took a long time, but I am starting to come around to the idea of it. It pays well if you are good at it. We'll see. You know me and my career ideas and how they come and go and come and go...
Hoping you are all well and at peace...