THE PHOTOS
So what's it look like here besides green? Now's your chance to find out...here's a few slices of life so far...
First off, let's take a look at life here in Pohnpei:
Dick & Elmerida Elwihse, my landlords, relaxing at the Sakau Market. That's the late, great Doober sniffing Dick's knee. Note the Spam by Elmerida's right hand.
Here Winkie, Here Winks...Winkie loves the camera
And of course we can't forget about Fella...
And here's my other new pet, the tiny little Japanese Jeep...
This is my well-hidden, gargantuan, and leak-prone abode, standing high above the lagoon in a tangle of flowers
MOVING ON FROM ME...here's a selection of the people I'm hanging out with these days...
A few of my co-workers...Meltes (our cashier), with his irrepressable son Melvin, Kent (our Medical Officer), and the late, great Ketson (see the travelogues)
And here we see several of our volunteers during a Close-of-Service ceremony at the Ambassador's Residence - these guys have paid their two-year dues and are OUT OF HERE!!
Remember "Adventuring Pohnpei"?? Pohnpei's short-lived hiking/biking group is immortalized here with the infamous "Hash Hike"
While getting lost on the Hash Hike, we stumbled across these kids at a remote mountaintop village
Let's move out into the community now and check out some of the sights...
Squeezing the Sakau at the market right across from my house...
Bringing a sakau plant down from the mountain, ready for pounding on the rock...
This is one of my favorite sakau markets on the island (aesthetically, of course)...great woodwork!
A typical communal building ("nahs") on a small family compound, made of thatch and tin
Now for some landscapes:
Sokehs Island is a long, thin volcanic "plug" that stuck around after erosion took away the remnants of an ancient volcano. It's the most striking feature of the island, seen here on a stormy day.
On one of my hikes, a group of us Expats scaled Nahna Laud, the highest point on the island. This is the view from the top...Sokehs Island is but a tiny blip in the upper left.
Nan Douwas, the main building of Nan Madol, the enigmatic ancient site now abandoned on the south of the island
One of the many waterfalls on Pohnpei, and a great swimming hole to boot!
This is a weekend home on one of the tiniest slivers of island you can imagine...room for one house and that's about it
War ruins abound throughout these parts...here's one of a huge arsenal of cannons placed by the Japanese to defend the island in WW2. Most were never fired.
Now let's move on to some of my other travels...
Kosrae - the "Island of the Sleeping Lady"...d'ya see her?? Spooky.
A typically gorgeous sunset over the islands of Chuuk Lagoon, scene of amazing destruction during WW2 and now a world-class wreck diving site.
One of our Volunteers, Marcy, with some of her students at their school on the island of Fefen in Chuuk Lagoon
Yap - the "Island of Stone Money" - this is one of the largest pieces, with Bruce (my boss), Mercy (our Yap Field Staff), and Mercy's son
Every Friday in Yap is "culture day" at school...the kids learn how to practice traditional crafts
Ulithi Atoll from the air...basically a long string of islands surrounded by open sea, on which...
...I ventured out on this tiny boat to Faderai that you can read all about in my travelogues
A traditional thatched house on Ulithi Falalop
The airport in Ulithi - twice-weekly planes are greeted by topless women & men in "Thu's"
On to Palau - here's one of the many beautiful "Bai" (community meeting houses) in Palau on the island of Babelthaup
When a boat isn't available, you often see people venture out into the lagoons on these precarious bamboo rafts!
Palau's jewels - the Rock Islands, as seen from the air
Another shot of the Rock Islands...
And here we have Angaur, a beautiful windswept island off the reef of Palau, where monkeys roam free in these jungles