Pohnpei Loves Holidays!

It's true.  I think that Pohnpei will take any holiday as an excuse to take the day off, but I'm not complaining.  This weekend we were able to enjoy a long weekend because we observed UN Day.  I don't know that I've ever observed the day in the states before, but we did here!  So I took advantage and made the most of my 3 days.
We kicked off the weekend by celebrating Emily's birthday.  We caught another beautiful sunset and just enjoyed all being together for a night.

Cupid's never fails to offer a great view

Saturday I was invited to a women's retreat with women from around the island affiliated with my church.  It was an awesome time of praise, worship and fellowship.  They held it out at a nearby swimming area with huts and covered nahs areas.  It was definitely one of those moments that I think I saw a little glimpse of heaven on earth.  We were standing under a thatched roof right beside the ocean singing whatever praise song anyone felt led to sing- in English or Pohnpeian. 

"All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name." Psalm 86:9

They were so gracious to welcome us in and even let us "white people" load up our plates first with delicious food all locally cooked.  And I got to see the local fishing pole that caught the fish being cooked.

All you need is an old plastic bottle, fishing line, and a hook.
I wish I had a video of it in action because it's pretty
impressive.

It was a beautiful hot day, so we decided to take a trip to the local swimming area to keep cool and relax for the afternoon.

Nett Point

Me - American swimsuit
Melody - Pohnpeian swimsuit

Ehu, riau, siluh jump!

The water feels great!

Laurel did a photo shoot with the boys while
we swam.  They were quite eager to show
off their cool tricks for the camera.

They're good!

This wasn't posed at all...haha!

Laurel and Becca had taken off with our shoes, which left us
with tender feet on the crushed coral.

In case the day hadn't been fun enough, Lori invited us over to play games, have dinner, and watch a movie.  I offered to bring some food for dinner.  Now this is how you survive on a very small stipend on the island.  The Lord just provides.  Here was the menu for the night:

Fish - fresh from the ocean caught by our friends Junior and Jacob

BBQ chicken - sent home with us from the women's retreat

Breadfruit - I found it newly fallen off a tree on the road while running (yes I'm that frugal and didn't mind looking ridiculous as I ran the last 1/2 mile home with it)

Papaya - I picked it right off the tree next to Lori's house

I love it!  Plus it was my first time to cook whole fish on a fire.  I never knew what a difference it makes for fish to be so fresh.

The delicious finished product

Sunday started off as a super sunny hot day.  We thought, "Great!  We can finally to that hike we've been wanting to do for the past month."  So early afternoon I met back up with friends from church to hike Sokehs Ridge.  It was clouding up by that time, but we decided to go for it anyway.  We had been wanting to do this for far too long.  I'll try to make a long story short, but it ended up being quite an adventure to remember.  First, we were taken to a different trail than I had done before, but I just figured there was more than one way to get up.  Wrong!  This was the slippery trail up to Sokehs Rock.  Big difference!  On top of that it was raining and things were only getting wetter and more slippery.  I ended up looking so silly scooting my way back down the side of the mountain, but I didn't care.  I wanted to get back on solid ground without wiping out.  Lori and I celebrated when our feet were back on the road.  We ended up having some really good laughs and saw some of the jungle we hadn't gotten to witness before.

Woohoo!  We made it down!

Please note that they are able to do this hiking in flip flops
while I can hardly do it in my trail shoes.

Love these girls!

The beginnings of the jungle

I found baby mangoes on the trail!

Since this was not what we had wanted to do we decided to still go ahead and do the ridge now that we were all on the same page.  It's more of a fun leisurely hike.

Goof balls!

These tiny little frogs were hopping all over.  They were
adorable!

At the top!

Another geological marker.  That makes 3 for me!

We were muddy messes!

Our fearless leaders

 I noticed dark clouds gathering while on the top, so I suggested we head down.  But we were not quick enough.  As we descended the rain began to fall.

Melody hiding out in the abandoned Japanese tank

Maybe the bunker is better

The rain was unrelenting as we hid out in a nahs

It turned into a STORM.  The wind was blowing trees over, limbs down, fruit was falling from trees.  We ended up just having to make a run for it and made it back sopping wet but unharmed.  The rest of the night was quite violent with wind damage and power outages.  It's a day to remember for sure!  Oh and I was welcomed home to absolutely wonderful lasagna made by Laurel.  She had made her own ricotta cheese and everything because it isn't available on the island.  So great especially after a long afternoon of hiking.

She's so good to me!

I decided Monday should be a little more low key.  I took the day to go visit the Hadleys.  I hadn't seen them in a while and was needing some game time with Gradley.

We played UNO and colored Spiderman, as
you can see.

Paula boiled mahi (breadfruit) my favorite!!! 

That was pretty much the conclusion of the holiday weekend.  In other random updates, last week was the first time our own campus restaurant was open for lunch.  It's called the Blue Plate and it's totally run by students as hands on learning for one of the classes offered at our campus.  They are open on Thursday only.  They are the cooks, hosts and hostesses, waitresses, and cashiers.  It's such a great learning experience for them and a treat for us!

It's quite the quaint little blue setting

Lunch with co-workers: Emma, Tracy, & Laurel

Meal A

Meal C - Calamansi Chicken with mashed yam and salad

Pumpkin pie!

They're food is great and they did a very nice job.  I can't wait to go again and try something new this Thursday!

After giving a test on Thursday I wanted to let my Intermediate Algebra class how great I think they are.  So I decided to try my hand at a new treat: Kool-aid Cookies!  I mean, what better treat could you offer to Pohnpeian students - kool-aid, red, and sweet.

Just mix in your favorite flavor with the liquids of the
sugar cookie recipe.

I had to go with tropical punch; it seems to be the island
favorite.

They were even redder than I had hoped :)

Tropical Punch Kool-aid Cookies

I'd say they were a hit.  And I would recommend making them.  They're very flavorful and fun.  I'll definitely be experimenting with different flavors.

Well I think that's enough going on about life here.  So long for now!