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