My last few days in Pohnpei were certainly days to remember. Just as I would hope, they were filled with time with the wonderful people I got to know in Pohnpei. I started with one last visit to the Hadleys. This is where my time in Pohnpei began, so I definitely wanted to spend some time there before leaving.
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| One more afternoon of cards with Gradley |
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| The Hadley family |
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| The first to make me feel welcome on the island |
I also got to do one more Story Hour at the library. This time I was able to round up some of my neighbor kids and take them to their first story hour. It was so fun to have them join me! We read The Paper Bag Princess and then make puppets to go along with the story.
We also had a fun and silly photo shoot because Jaime and I were both leaving the island soon.
The last Saturday was filled with two great celebrations. First, we celebrated the graduation of two of our friends from the Micronesian Bible College.
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Junior & Anthony
Obviously it is customary to give the graduates a lei :) |
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| Fellow MBC students |
The second celebration was the birthday of Lori's host mom, Dasko. She is a wonderful, sweet woman. I was honored to get to come and celebrate her birthday with her. It was a feast complete with a pig and everything.
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| My own personal tray |
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| filled with quite the assortment of foods |
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What do we have? Pig, spaghetti, crab legs, bbq chicken,
rib, pig intestine, fried rice, cake with chocolate icing,
veggies in spicy sauce, potato salad, breadfruit smashed
with coconut, and banana smashed with coconut |
I bet you'll never get a food tray with such a wide variety anywhere else. The great thing is that you get to take the tray home so you can enjoy it for a few more meals. We also ended up getting to sit with some of the ladies at the end of the party to just chat and enjoy their seemingly natural talents on the ukulele.
Being the procrastinator that I am, I left almost all of my packing for Sunday. I figured I would go to church and then have plenty of time in the afternoon to pack. This was very poor planning on my part. I should have known that I would of course choose time with people over packing. That led to me packing in the middle of the night, but it all worked out and it was all worth it. It started as a typical Sunday with church and lunch with Bob and Carol.
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| Dear church friends and Zumba partners |
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| New hats and delicious lunch at Kaselehlie diner |
When I got home from church, my friend Melsi and her neice were there waiting for me. I thought she was just dropping by to say bye. It turned out that she came up and hung out with Melody and me, then Lori came, then Junior, Jacob, and Anthony showed up. Before I knew it, Melsi was going to get her husband so he could join the party. They came back with treats and we made a whole day of it. They entire afternoon was filled with so much laughter! It was again something so unexpected but far better than my plan of packing all afternoon. Spending time with them was a huge blessing.
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| Melsi! |
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| Goggles are tricky to get on ;) |
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I think Jacob played the ukulele and made up
his own songs all day |
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Junior and Anthony got drinking coconuts
for me so I could enjoy a few more before
I left the land of uhp |
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Melsi made ramen and kool-aid for all; little did she know
it was on my list of things to do before I leave. Perfect! |
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| Spicy Ramen & Tropical Punch Kool-aid |
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My first bite! Actually tastier than I
expected, but not something I crave |
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| Ramen bowls all around! |
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| Thanks for this experience Melsi! |
Since Melsi had just introduced me to a new food item, it only seemed right to introduce her to something new. What do I love to introduce people to? S'mores of course!!!
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| First roast... |
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| ...smoosh between the grahams and chocolate... |
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| ...and take the first bite! |
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| Another first timer! |
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| Also a first timer! They're a hit! |
By the end of the night we were all hurting from laughing so much. Our cheeks hurt and our bellies ached. That's the sign of a great time together. We ended the night with a sweet time of prayer and they sent me off with many blessings. I was so thankful the afternoon did not go as I had planned.
After they left I still wanted to spend time with Maryanna and the rest of the Samuel family. I couldn't have it that my last day was without the people who had become like my family. So bring on party #2!!! Without telling me, Maryanna had made my favorite foods just for me. I will never get over how good she was to me. She always spoiled me so much! And Jay-Jay had to have s'mores one last time.
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| Time to eat again! |
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| Drinking coconuts and a whole crab!!! |
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We shared so much with each other throughout the year.
I don't think either of us could ever be the same. |
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| The s'more monster! Check out that double s'more. |
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| What a fun little brother |
After all that fun, I still had to pack my bags. Deliriously Maryanna, Melody and I threw it all in. I had a brief panic when I thought there would be no way to get my checked back under weight, but we soon figured it out. In the wee hours we finally all collapsed on my bed. It was so funny to have all three of us just lying there. I guess we probably didn't want the night to end and the morning to come. We had a little sleepover and stayed awake as long as we possibly could.
We did eventually fall asleep and get a few hours of sleep. And the next day did come. We had just enough time to get the final packing finished, make a run to the post office, and finish off the leftovers from the night before. The perfect final Pohnpeian meal!
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| Shared with Melody! |
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Super messy! Not exactly what you should be eating
when you're suppose to be getting to the airport :) |
Carol showed up to take us to the airport while we were still covered in crab and tuna. Oops! But we got cleaned up and made it just in time to beat the huge crowd in the ticketing line. I was blessed again by a great send off group!
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| Carol - what would I have done without her?! |
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These 3 ladies made my time in Pohnpei far better than I
could have ever expected |
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| I miss her so much! |
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| The bunch that brought me so much laughter |
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| Simon says, touch your nose! |
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| Gotta drink just one more coconut! |
The time did come to say the dreaded goodbyes. It was very hard to leave people I had come to love and and a place I had come to call home. I didn't have much of a choice though as the lady began yelling, "Time is up! I am closing the door!" Ahh! Luckily she let me through and I was on my way. What an awesomely unforgettable experience it was. Kaselehlie Pohnpei!
