some snorkeling pictures

more blogging soon, but some underwater photos i took on a friend's camera:

good-bye, white rice!

since moving into my own place (shared with two other volunteers), i've been enjoying making my own meals again. this largely resembles my diet in the states, but its brightened up by local foods, such as:

tuna, caught hours before and bought directly from the fishermen


















and bananas grown in our own backyard

waterfalls and surf camp

last weekend, we hiked to a waterfall near kolonia. we swam in the pool at the bottom (picture below), and jumped off a 25-foot drop a little higher up. it was a rush.






















sunday, we ventured back to nahlap to "help out with" (watch) a kids surf camp. when's my turn?

settling in

the last week here has been filled with settling in to life in kolonia. i've moved into my house (two roommates), and our group size shrunk when we bid farewell to the outer municipality volunteers. i've also moved into my office at COM (college of micronesia, pohnpei campus). its wildly swank in comparison with the high schools here, and i'm guiltily enjoying the luxuries of daily internet and air conditioning. classes start this coming thursday, so i'm plugging away at lesson planning and syllabus writing -- generally starting to panic about the realities of teaching college classes.

i'm going to try and run a half-marathon here in two weeks' time, so wish me luck! i'm up to eight miles, and if i can quickly beat the cold i feel coming on, i think i may have a shot at finishing. aside from the dogs here, running has been enjoyable here. i go very early in the morning, and its just cool enough. the exercise definitely makes my cold shower incredibly appreciated.

i don't have a street address here - just the po box below. when we set up our phone account, we told the telecom lady it was for "glen harris' third house," and they knew just where to hook things up. its life in a small town, and so far, i like it!

-----

my address, if you want to be a pen-pal (or a package-sending bff). remember that it's domestic us mail rates - so 44 cents will be just fine!:

emily pedneau

c/o worldteach

po box 2378

kolonia, pohnpei

fsm 96941

japanese WWII tank on our sokehs ridge hike

the white rice diet isn't all that it's cracked up to be

i seem to recall that somewhat recently i enjoyed my fair share of rice. i may have even considered it an important part of a balanced diet. no more.

what my host family feeds me is like a slow and grueling form of torture. dinner is almost always a hard, cold slab of tasteless white rice. if i want something to put on top, i can have the usual topping of unflavored ramen, broth, and corned beef. if i'm lucky the broth is warm and contains a few sparse slices of carrots. i'd feel like a jerk for complaining about the food if the diet didn't have me writhing in bed with dreams of a stomach virus to put me out of my misery. starving after a barely-touched dinner and an early morning run, i still lose my appetite at the sight of a white rice breakfast, though this time sided with slices of spam.

in good news, though, we move into our house in two days!