Chuuk



Elani, Isela, me, and Melody on Weno.




The road around Romanum.




Romanum



Me, Isela, Melody, and Alex.



Romanum



Me and Melody swimming.

Romanum

Alex, Gretchen, Melody, me, Isela, and Mariel on my last morning in Chuuk.

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is comprised of four states: Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap, and Chuuk. I live on Pohnpei, the capital (and largest at ) island state. The Peace Corps also currently has Volunteers on Kosrae and Chuuk. Over the “winter” break, I chose to visit some of those Volunteers in Chuuk (pronounced “Chook”) for an eight-day vacation. We joke here on Pohnpei that we choose to take a break from our small island by escaping to even smaller islands, which is definitely true. It’s funny how that works out. One Volunteer’s fishbowl is another Volunteer’s vacation.
The main island of Chuuk is Weno. This island has the airport, stores, hotels, restaurants, cars, and electricity. I spent the first four days of my trip there, visiting with one of my friends Elana and her host family. Weno is like the “town” of Chuuk, but being there for even four days helped me to understand why my friends stationed there are always overwhelmed by Pohnpei when they return.
The town here in Pohnpei, called Kolonia, is by no means large but it has become very large by my perception in the year and a half I’ve lived here. The cars move at what I can estimate is about 20 mph in town, with speeds sometimes reaching 30 or 35mph in the more rural areas. That is the scope of my “fast”. In Chuuk, however, the roads are in less order, and therefore drivers chug along at probably 15 mph, tops. Yet, my friends jump back in fear as a car comes “speeding” by. Funny how we can become accustomed to things.
The shops are fewer and less flashy than those found in Pohnpei, but you can still find all that you need. There are much less restaurants, maybe five, but they do have an incredible ice cream shop which I made a point to investigate. The locations with air conditioning are even more sparse than in Pohnpei, making their existence even more cherished.
The interesting thing I got to experience, was the novelty of living so close to town. Here in Pohnpei, town is at least 45 minutes away, so “quick trips” don’t exist. When I was staying on Weno, meals consisted of exotic ingredients such as canned vegetables and peanut butter, things that are hard to find out in the villages here in Pohnpei. I gobbled up the food with embarrassing enthusiasm.
Aside from size and proximity to stores, I didn’t find much different between Weno, Chuuk and Pohnpei. There are some subtle cultural differences, but largely the island lifestyle remains constant. The biggest difference, of course was the language. In Pohnpei we speak Pohnpeian, and in Chuuk they speak Chuukese, so I was at a complete loss for words. I learned only how to say “hello” and “thank you”. Amusingly enough, the word for “thank you” in Chuukese is the exact same word in Pohnpeian for the word “naked”. That definitely made me laugh.
At the end of my vacation: part one, I boarded a small motor boat bound for an island about 45 minutes from Weno. My companions were Isela and Alex (new but wonderful Volunteers that I met during this trip), Melody from my group (my hostess), a Chuukese woman, our boat operator, and a boat boy. Oh, and piles of our luggage and goods purchased in “town”. About 20 minutes into our trip the engine died (Melody’s words were “That’s not good.”), leaving us stranded in open ocean on rocking waves. After about an hour of spinning, bobbing, and drifting, we were rescued by several other motor boats who answered our distress calls (thank God there was cell reception!). Everything turned out okay, and I can now cross “puking violently over the side of a motorboat while waves splash relentlessly into your face” off my bucket list. I had to scrub paint chips off of my hands and arms from how desperately I was clinging to the sides of that little boat. And that was after taking seasickness medicine. I can only imagine what would have happened otherwise. Yikes.
Despite the less than pleasant start to my vacation: part two, I had a wonderful time. I was staying on an island called Romanum in an area known as FiChuuk. With a land mass of about 0.28 square miles, it takes only about 30 minutes to walk around it completely. Despite its compactness, the terrain varied between rocks, sand, swampy marsh, and jungle. The beaches were beautiful white sand, which was an exciting change as Pohnpei is a mangrove island without sand. There are no roads, cars, or electricity on Romanum, and the quaintness was refreshing. They have gas-powered generators that run for a small portion of the night, maybe 7pm-12am. Otherwise it was utter and complete darkness during the night, which was only scary when I had to find my way to the bathroom.
We spent three days lounging around, swimming, and eating a notably large amount of junk food. It was perfection. On our last day on Romanum we even took a trip to an even smaller island only about 15 minutes away by motorboat. This island took only about 8 minutes to walk around and was 100% sandy paradise. It was such a nice break. On my island, I live so deep in the jungle that it is easy to forget I’m even on an island at all. In Chuuk, and on Romanum specifically, the ocean was visible at almost all times, and if you couldn’t see it, you could definitely hear it. The views were breathtaking. No camera can accurately capture the different hues of intense blue that is the South Pacific. It was exactly what you picture as tropical paradise.
On the last day of my Chuuk vacation, we got back on a (different) motorboat for our return trip to Weno. The trip was mercifully uneventful. We met up with a few other Volunteers and all went in together at one of the nicest hotels on the island, frequented by diving fanatics. It was Melody’s birthday, and I celebrated by treating myself to an expensive dinner. I had the most glorious steak and shrimp and person could ever imagine (I do acknowledge that perhaps my judgment is clouded by almost two years of fish and rice). It was almost a religious experience. Then we all enjoyed some cherry cheesecake in honor of the birthday girl, took hot showers, and slept in air-conditioning. Granted, I was freezing cold the entire night and slept horribly, as is the custom whenever I am in air-conditioning, but it was worth it to not be hot for a few precious hours.
I then said goodbye to all my friends, most of whom I’ll be seeing in just four months at our Close of Service (COS) Conference, boarded my plane and headed home after a wonderfully perfect vacation. It’s hard to believe I’m finally in the home stretch. As my mom says, it’s now the “correct year”, meaning the year I come home: 2014. And I feel very fortunate that I was able to kick off the “correct year” in beautiful Chuuk, surrounded by friends and laughter.
I hope everyone at home at a wonderful New Year, and that 2014 brings you and your family happiness.
Enjoy some photos from my trip: