Bon Voyage!

My ship, The Voyager, is set to depart this evening at 6 pm. It will take me to Woleai over the course of four or five days (Falalus is the island in the bottom left corner). I am excited for the journey to my new home. It may sound like a long time to be on a crowded ship in an expanse of blue (and I'm sure it's going to feel like it, too), but right now I'm looking forward to the voyage as a transition into my new experience. I imagine myself floating "away from the things of man," as they say in the movie Joe vs. the Volcano. But then again, I'm exciting to be floating towards the people - my new family and community. It is sad to have to leave my host family here on Yap - they've been a wonderful family and I'm going to miss them. I've been busy making hats so they won't forget me - my legacy is a crocheted one :0)!

Well, I need to be off to do some last minute packing, make some final phone calls, and hopefully get a letter or two in the mail while I still have access to a post office.

Thank you everyone for your tremendous support. It's because of you that I have the strength and excitement to get on a boat and begin this big adventure out in Woleai. It's called 'ubuntu' - I am because you are. It will be some time before we're able to connect via conventional means, but think of me now and then, as I'll do you, and we'll connect often.

In a spirit of ubuntu and gratitude,
emily

It's Official. Emily Hurianek - Peace Corps Volunteer.

Friday night was the swearing-in ceremony for us Micro76s, as my group is affectionately known. It marked the transition from lowly trainee to mighty and powerful volunteer. Well, maybe not quite that big of a change, but still, when Elizabeth, our Program and Training Officer, announced that I was now a Peace Corps Volunteer, I felt a thrill. The ceremony was beautiful. The seven of us new PCVs in Yap all 'went local,' as its called, and we were stunning. I had brilliantly colored, fragrant, and skillfully-made mwaremwares, or leis - two on my head and three around my neck. Each different language group - Yap, Ulithi, and Woleai - presented traditional songs and dances. Singing is NOT my forte, but I was happy to be sharing our song with my host family. It's called "Three Birds," which we wrote in English and then had translated and set to a Woleaian tune. Our song says that we are three birds from far away nests, and it talks about our journey - how we're learning to sing new songs and build new nests here. I may have been offkey, but my sentiment was right on when we sang our thank yous to everyone who has helped us here.


Tino, our langauge teacher, Porter, Me, and Gita singing our song!

Now I have a few free days to prepare and relax before the ship comes to take us out to Woleai. Rumor has it that it's supposed to arrive tomorrow and leave either the 16th or the 18th. It's vague and likely to change, as most plans here are. For instance, our ceremony on Friday was supposed to be at 1 pm at YFTI, then 2:30 at the Youth Center, then 7 pm at Oasis, and then 7 at the park, and finally 7 at O'Keefes. Let's just say that, if you make a plan, make sure you pencil it in and have a good, flexible eraser :-)

I'm all packed up and I am stoked to be so prepared. I have TONS of yummy food to supplement my diet for at least three months, my guess is longer. It's a nice feeling to be prepared, and an even nicer feeling to know that I'm getting on my way. I've been on two islands now for two months, but I have yet to see my new home for the next two years.

I've been finding it difficult to be present in the here and the now since I've been constantly preparing for Woleai, but there are moments that just smack me in the face and make me pay attention to and appreciate life. Last night, for instance, I found myself driving home from my brothers' semifinal basketball game in the back of a pickup truck, mouth agape and eyes glued to the stars. Never, in all my life, have I ever seen such stars. I hope you sometime have the chance to find yourself on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean at night. There are also countless moments with my host brothers, where they just smack me in the face with how amazing or funny or quirky or insightful they are. I am really excited to be a part of this family for the next two years (any time I come back to Yap Proper, they're my family). I've been busy busy crocheting hats for them as thank you presents - thanks Grannie for the yarn, it's perfect! I've finished 6 hats so far and have about 6 more to make. I just can't wait to put down the crochet hook and pick up the scuttle when I learn to weave lavalavas. Just think, in three or four months you'll be getting updates about all the fun mishaps of me learning island skills!

Here's a brief review of what I know about the future...After I depart for Woleai, I will not be back to Yap until the end of Feb/beginning of March for what we call IST - In Service Training. This first year, I'll be in about every three or four months (depending on the ship or plane) for IST or 'resource trips.' That means I won't have internet access for three-four months at a time. Mail will get to me whenever there's a ship/plane that comes out. Each week, I'll have a SSB chat with Regina, the PA, to make sure everything is going well (there's a satellite phone and epirb for emergencies). I'll try to use these chats to get news to my good friend Laura back on Yap, who will then communicate with my mom, who may then post to let everyone know I'm alright. But in case this doesn't happen or isn't possible, just assume no news is good news. Of course, I'll do my best to write to each of you, and I'd love letters in return! Basically we'll have to see what things are like and then go with it. But what's new?

Okay, and now it's finally time to show you a little bit of what life here is like (one of the great perks of being an official volunteer is use of the office computer!). So here goes, starting with the most recent first!


Me and my host family before the ceremony - these women made these gorgeous mwaremwares!


Me, Divine, and Lindsey on Halloween


The "Local Boys" on Halloween - My twin bros Rodney and Riley and friend Lawrence


Halloween in Maap - fending off evil spirits :-)


View from Maap, Yap (Halloween)


Gita and Porter, my Woleai-mates, on Water Safety Day


Water Safety Training on Halloween


Sunset at my house


Sunset on the lagoon that the Yap Canoe Festival


Jaden (4), Lindsey (12), and Divine/Duck (8), some of my host brothers in my room


Laura, Gita, and Porter in our lovely PC office in Yap!


Gita and I at a basketball game our second day in Yap - the first thing I could do after food poisoning!


The Mirco 76 Group - all 30 of us plus PC staff!


Lauren, Laura, Me, and Porter at the Mand waterfall (ropeswing!) in Pohnpei


JR, my 3 yr. old host cousin in Pohnpei (my room in the back)


Me at Nan Madol - ancient ruins in Pohnpei


PATS - our traning cite in Pohnpei

Enjoy!

PS - Hi Kathy (Rob's mom!)!! Thanks for reading!

Halloween and Gratitude

Halloween in Yap
For 23 years of my life, I’ve woken up on Halloween to crisp leaves and chilled air, to candy corn and bare trees. Now imagine how this could be as different as possible. That was my Halloween this year. I woke up to tropical sun, heat, and humidity. I spent the day in the most translucent water I have ever imagined. Coconut trees and snorkeling, salt water and beach. Instead of looking up to bare branches, I looked out to clouds showing the curve of the earth on the horizon. And then came the scary part because, after all, one must be scared at some point on Halloween. It involved knives and death and guts. It was gruesome. It was horrid. It was me gutting my first fish. The horror, the terror!

After we gutted loads of tropical and brightly colored fish, our wonderful Program Assistant, the one and only Regina, treated the Yap Volunteers to a barbecue on the beach. While our supper was cooking, I took the opportunity to climb my first coconut trees (we were on a tourist beach away from locals, so it was ‘okay’ to climb as a woman) and then we made our plates out of coconut leaves. Sun-kissed and satisfied, we piled in the back of a pickup truck to be dropped off at our host families.

It was dark by time I arrived and instead of finding my host brothers and other sundry neighborhood kids, I found witches and goblins and ghosts! I had just enough time to through on my snorkel and mask as a costume before heading out to our neighborhood in search of booty. Here’s where I started to feel in my element. The kids were planning the route to hit the best houses first. We would travel in packs, the little ones lagging behind and holding my hand. Every once in a while, my host brothers would go missing only to reappear by jumping out of the trees at a gaggle of young, shrieking girls. At one point I caught up to a group of kids in a circle close together commanding “cover, cover.” By time I got close enough to figure out what was going on, a sparkler erupted and sent the whole group of us stumbling backwards with glee. A few houses, handfuls of candy, and screams more, the entertainment turned to running around and dancing with signal flares. Now would be a good time to comment that safety standards for kids are much different here than in the states. That’s all I have to say about that. Anyway, no one was hurt and fun was had by all. All in all, an A + Halloween.

In other news, which isn’t actually news, because it’s a well-established, practically antiquated fact, I have the best family and friends. Ever. Not only did I have a tower of FOUR packages to open today, I have received the most packages out of anyone by far – thank you so much, I feel the love! And now I’m typing on a huge chunk of that love right now. My wonderful family has given me a new Netbook with lots of trimmings. Oh, and a whole box of Thanksgiving trimmings. I’m rich with trimmings. And with technology (I even have a solar panel and battery for my electronics!). And with dried grains and beans and bars and nuts and candy and deodorant. Which has actually worked out perfectly b/c I am well-stocked now for my first voyage out to Woleai. It looks like my next trip back into Yap will be sometime around the end of February, and I am happy to report that I am supplied adequately, if not downright sumptuously, until then. Really, thank you.

I will do my best to communicate any future needs, but for now, your job is done, Care-Package Givers. I think it’s best to try to coordinate future packages for my resource trips back to Yap so as to avoid packages sitting around, just begging ants to infiltrate them. In the meantime, letters are as good as any physical food because they’re food for my soul  I am sorry that I am unable to reciprocate all your generosity with souvenirs and even frequent letters from my end. Once training is over, I will have much more time, and hopefully resources, too. But please know that I think about you all daily. It’s a treasure to have such fond memories to connect me to you over the distance.

To paint a brief timeline of my immediate future, I have a language test tomorrow morning (PC wants us to be at an ‘intermediate low’ level…fingers crossed). Then Friday is our official swearing-in ceremony that will mark as passage from trainee to Volunteer…oh la la. Fancy. The three of us Woleaian Volunteers are singing a song in local dress for the ceremony. Which means a.) I have to sing in public and b.) I will be topless. Trust me, between the two, being topless is by far the lesser of two evils. I’ll let you know how it goes. But until then, send some tune my way, because I have none. Seriously.

Thanks all for following along my adventure. It feels like it has yet to begin, yet in many ways it already has. I appreciate all your thoughts, prayers, packages, and letters. They nourish and support me daily.

May you find some hidden, special nourishment in your day today! Blessings from Micronesia and a big, almost topless WHEE!
emily