Sunday morning rain is falling...

Today is the first day I feel as if I need to put lotion on! We went swimming in the Pacific Ocean yesterday and I can definitely feel the after effects of the massive amount of salt. We took a day trip out to a SMALL “resort” island to go snorkeling and have a bit of a day to relax away from the school. We’ve only been here about a week and a half and we are already taking trips out and exploring the island, I love it. This was a cute little island called Nahalp and there were a few other Pohnpei groups that were camping on the island. We took an hour drive in the back of our trucks to get there. I am really starting to get use to our transportation methods, which consists of piling as many of us into the back to two small trucks as we can, some standing at the back window and everyone else sitting against the sides. We have already had the privilege of being pulled over once for incorrect placement of our people in the back of the standing truck lol. Marcus was outside the bar and standing on the back tail end when we saw a small white car pull up pretty close behind us. We didn’t think anything of it at first until this little tiny blue light on the top began to light up and inform us we were currently being pulled over. They didn’t give us a ticket but a very abrupt verbal warning was not lacking. We had a good laugh about it after and Marcus hasn’t really heard the end of it since. When we got to the small inlet where we would be getting on a boat to head to the island the driveway into the inlet was quite the challenge. It was scary to be standing in the truck looking down at this very steep and rocky road that we were about to attempt at going down. I yelled back to everyone else to be ready to “jump ship”. But we made it down without any problems and we waited in a small overhang until the boat arrived to ferry us to the island. Nothing seems to really surprise me anymore. I am ready for anything after being here for only a week and I’m learning to expect the unexpected. Of course I was expecting a big boat to come around the corner to ferry us to the island however that was not quite the case. It was basically an oversized fishing boat with 8-10 rows of benches and an unplugged hole in the back that let in water every time someone shifted to the wrong side. We left at about 10:30am and apparently this is the time of low tide and with our luck we got stuck. All the guys had to get out and start pushing our little blue boat through the low, muddy water. Eventually a few of us girls hopped out and began to help with the grunt work too. I cut up my foot nicely on something in the mud but didn’t notice it till after I got back in the boat. Its so much fun to have such an unpredictable life. I was just talking with Brittany the other day about how different the way of life is here compared to the States. The pace is relaxed, the culture is focused on such different aspects of life and the “cushions” of society have all been removed. We find ourselves enjoying the little things in life so much more here. We find entertainment in racing GIANT frogs around the parking lot, in riding in the back of the truck while it rains, sitting in our living room just hanging out, making a good meal, eating bananas and swimming in the creek, drinking from a coconut, sitting in front of a fan, listening to Carl play his accordion, or just getting a scoop of ice-cream on a hot day. I guess you can say that the “little” things amuse us and we find enjoyment in random parts of our days here. I have already heard a few people talking about the culture shock they know they are going to experience going back home after our 10 months here.
When we finally reached the island, which wasn’t too far away but took us quite a while to get there we all started to explore. Brittany and I walked around the path for a while and then noticed that everyone had gone out to this long pier and had started snorkeling in the water around the dock. There was an awesome slide into the water and a overhang on the pier with a LARGE tube ring about 20 feet from the pier where you could sit and hang out in the water while people swam. I didn’t have snorkel gear so I watched for a few minutes but then decided to go and walk to the other side of the island to look for this cute chapel that Tia Tanya had told us about. One the way over we stopped to get some fresh mangos from Tanya’s box and enjoyed eating those while we walked.