10.31.14 Happy Halloween

It was a dark and stormy night for the ghosts and goblins. The rain came down in sheets and the wind howled. We have the makings of a cyclone here and the intense weather is to be here for most oft he weekend.

There was one big Halloween party for the expats but Idid not attend. It was in the northern part of the island and in bad weather just too many logistics to attend. (My excuse for not going!) Instead I made dinner that included squash for old time sakes, eggplant, onion, and taro were also mixed in the the stir fry and enjoyed it with a fellow PCR volunteer. I do enjoy taro and breadfruit and have learned how to prepare it. Rice I still do not dow eel, so I bought it fromt eh hospital café!

Saw one local kid in a sort of outfit but it is not as big of a holiday as back home. Although apparently getting to be a bigger celebration with time.

On a more serious note:

We officially started the work on the breast cancr program here. I gave two lectures in the morning and will give one more next Friday. The first lecture was also used to get a sense from the staff (all disciplines) as to the attitutdes and practices as they affect cancer patients in general. It was a really good discussion.

We now have several staff who have volunteered to create a support program to help cancer patients. Not only do I hope it gets off the ground, but that it is sustainable. So I make sure that I serve as a resource, not as the person who IS the support group. Will keep you all posted as to the progress we all make.

The first shipment of brochures arrived and they look really nice. (Nice quality paper - printed by Staples, shoolld last a long time.)  Thank you Fenny for shipping and Kari - more are on the way to be shipped. When all is said and done, we should have one for almost a quarter of the age appropriate women in Yap and the neighboring islands. It was translated into Yapese and Ulithian. You may recognize the image in the middle paneln from an earier blog.

 

 

Yapese

 

 

 

Ulithian

 

 

 

 

 

This one can serve as a resource for the professional staff. English is the language that the ue in school and all official communications, so we did not translate it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that is how I sepnt most of my week, preparing for the lecture and of course, the great island tour.

Only 8 days until the canoe festival. Let's hope the weather is much improved. Otherwise the sailboats will be on their way to Ulithi before we know it.

 



 

10.29.2014 Island Tour

Had an island tour today with Julie, the Chief of Public Health and Cyril, a PH member, who drove. Cyril knows everything about Yap and was a great tour guide. He knew all of the back roads and hidden treasures.

There are a couple of WWII US aircraft scattered around the island. We saw two of the more remote ones on this trip. The Japanese had removed all of their aircraft that were shot down and took them back to Japan, where I heard they used for scfrap metal.

Bullet holes.

 

 

 

Walkway to a remote site. Single lane road ended abruptly just passed the wooden bridge. No warnng, just the sea at the end.

A thick shell, these are no longer found washed up on the island.

Cyril and Julie deep in conversation while I am exploring and taking pictures. Can you guess what is in the plastic bag?

This is Julie.

 

 

 This is the flower of the palm that is used to thatch roofs. Pretty exotic.

10.29.14 So far, so good

Work and life are going well. The internet on the other hand could be better. Learned that one of the satellites is not functioning and so we can expect slow speeds for a while. Took hours to upload one brochure for printing - I am trying to learn patience!

These pictures are from yesterday - another day of cute kids.  Also a lovely walk in the evening. When it is low tide, there are a lot of reef fish and I enjoy "dry snorkeling". I can lean over the bridge and watch them dart back anad forth and the little ones trying to escape the bigger ones.

This is Melissa checking blood pressure. Public health staff monitor patients with hypertension and diabetes.

This was one really nice  family. The kids did not cry or fuss when they rece3ived their immunization shots and the little girl watched the whole process, including putting the bandaid on the site.

 The little boy and girl in this picture were all giggles, although it is hard to tell fromt he face of the little girl.

I adore these cute little kids. It is so much fun to take a break from work and hold or play with the kids. Her Mom has  her all dressed up for the visit.

Tried to gt him to say "fish" but he would just giggle.

Photographs from dry snorkeling.

10.27.14 A double rainbow.....................

........................... what does it mean? If you haven't seen the video on YouTube, it is worth looking for it. It is a couple of years old by now.  A double rainbow today meant a very nice day. We had a huge dark cloud coming from the East early this morning and then - a double rainbow. Beautiful. Photographs do not do it justice.

10.25.14 Tomil Youth Fair

This was a fun day. Went to Tomil, a large municipality northeast of Colonia. They had the second annual youth fair with traditional dancing, obstacle course running for the kids, tug of war, baseball throwing, darts, and pin the tail on the donkey. There was also food and music. First prize - a pig! So disappointed I didn't win. Grand Prize - two tickets on United Airlines.

The obstacle course wss done in pairs (two teams) matched by age. These kids are really agile. They can run threw tires on the ground and jump without any problem or hesitation. Totally  impressed.

Air tent for the little kids.

Music was a little loud for some.

They were very serious  at the beginning of the obstacle course but all smiles at the end. Here are some boys getting ready for their start.

This little kid was really cute. he tackled the course with the confidence of a pro.

Next to last obstacle - crawl threw two tires before having to roll under a wire.

OK, this one is not in focus, but the kids of all ages could jump over the beam. It ws raised for the older kids,lower for the little ones. Some jumped right over it without even touching the beam.

 

 

 

Fresh fish. The fish were just caught, so I seleted some with the help of John. The grilled them for me with a little garlic and pepper and wrapped in a banana leaf. Really, really good. These are reef fish, including the blue ones I described last week. Tasty. Here are the men at the grills.

 

 John.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Graham, another Peace Corps Response volunteer, working in the Marine Environment department.

 

 

 A lot of really good arms here. Several men won by tossing the ball through the hole.

 

 

 

Men's lodge. Nowomen allowed.

 

Women's lodge.

Wreck of an Amrican aircraft shot down by the Japanese during World War II.

You can hear the skirts move through the wind as the girls pass by.

 

 

 

 

Darts. Goal is to hit the red dot on the dollar bill. The smaller dots were on the $10.00. One guy hit it.

 

Dog eating her treats. She was starved.

She was happy to have a snack.