09.10.14 rainy and cloudy

Woke up this morning to a downpour. But I have a handy poncho, so no excuse not to get to work. The school kids getting off the bus got a big kick out of it. It stayed cloudy for the rest of the day.

There was a state funeral for the chief justice of the supreme court that was well respected. His funeral procession went passed my apartment. While we have one stop sign in town, we also had one police office with his whistle managing traffic.

I live in the building right next to the sign.

Fortunately, no traffic jam.

More children in to the Public Health office for immunizations. You must by now have figured out that I have a soft spot for the kids and puppies. And yes, kittens, too. And the doggies.

Here are some pictures of a cute little one. She let me hold her for a long time, probably her Mom was happy for the break. She has two other sisters under age 5.

There is a palm tree that is growing through the roof up to the second floor just outside my window. I must remember  never to step out onto that roof just under my window.

It takes about 30 minutes to walk back and forth to the office and I am very much enjoying the exercise. I also take a walk in the early mornings or early evenings. Tonight I walked towards the end of town where I found three little children playing in front of a business, seemingly all alone. So I stopped to see what they were doing and it seemed all fair to me to talk to them. I cannot speak Yapese yet (except for a few words) and they cannot speak English. So it was a bunch of giggles and laughs and catching noses and toes. Before you know it they were getting airplane rides and hugs and kisses. Grandpa was watching from across the street and sent over some bananas for me. Kammager! (Thank you!).

She is the middle one. Such a sweetheart.

She is the youngest of the three. She was the first to come up to me, with her bag of bread that was almost  all crumbs.

 

 

This is their big brother. At first he was shy, but by the end of our visit he won't let me go home! Little boys need hugs, too!

Can you hear the giglges and laughter as I have all three in my arms at once and we are spinning like a top?

 

Dinner was an American treat - PIZZA! They had pizza in the grocery store today, so I snatched it up. I watched pictures on the computer of my boys Fionnegan and Gunnarr and the sailboats from the races this summer while listening to Bruce Springsteen. I must have downloaded every song on my iPod he ever recorded. I brought a JBL speaker, about the size of the palm of our hand, that plays so crisp and clear that you can understand every word of the songs. OK, for Bruce, almost every word  is clear!

Tonight I must summarize the stats of the dataset I just completed for the chief of Public Health. Not bad progress on both sides of the fence here. We are meeting with the chief of medicine to review the results of the last dataset, so we are all hopeful that this is meaningful information for them.

Just had a thought as I was thinking about the boy in church with holes in his clothes and mismatched flipflops (his picture was included in Sunday's post.). If anyone wants to send clothes or books and pencils or toys for the kids, I can get them to the priest for distribution. There are several grade schools here and high schools that would appreciate the gifts, no doubt. Check the USPS website for details for shipping.

The US Postal address to reach us here is:

Peace Corps Micronesia - YAP Office
Dr. Rosemary B Duda
PO Box 190
Colonia, Yap 96943
Micronesia

 

Thank you!