Greetings from Pohnpei! “Kaselehie” means hello and goodbye in Pohnpeian, like Aloha or Ciao. I had stumbled across this word many times before I came here and had no idea how to pronounce it. Go ahead, take a guess. The correct way is “ casa-lay-lee-ah” with the casa pronounced like the Spanish word for “house.” The past few days have been a whirlwind. Tremendous jetlag + experiencing massive culture shock for the first time is a brutal combination. My body is starting to know what time it is though and I’m learning more about the culture every day.
I’m living with two roommates, Dale and Ian, who are really cool guys and have been very helpful in the transition process, answering a lot of questions and teaching me more about the culture. They are working on emergency management and public safety issues while they’re here. Upstairs is Kat and the resident three-year old, Kai. In a day or two John will be coming back from the states, which everyone is looking forward to.
On Friday I met Mr. Benjamin, aka Mr. B, who I will be working closely with on the Professional Growth for Educators project. We will be working with seven schools across the island conducting assessments and looking to see how we can best help them. We are hoping to secure more funding so that we can expand the number of schools. Speaking of which, I will also be working on grant writing while I’m here. Somehow everyone thinks I’m a professional grant writer. I don’t know how that misconception started, but they need a professional grant writer so I suppose the only thing to do is step up to the plate and do my best!
There’s so many things to write about I don’t even know where to begin. Here’s a quick piece of culture – when waving someone to come over to you, you need to be very careful of what hand gesture used. You’re supposed to wave someone over with your palm down, or if you’re feeling risky, sideways. If you wave someone over with your palm facing up it means, in politically correct terms, “Let’s go have sexual relations in the bushes.” I sure hope I don’t forget that one.
Over the coming weeks, I will be writing more about Pohnpeian life and culture on topics such as transportation, food, social life, religion, politics, language, education, and infrastructure, to name a few. I’ll also be sure to post pictures as well. If there is anything you're particularly curious about, feel free to contact me.
My full contact information is below and posted on the home page:
Drew Robinson
PO Box 2268
Kolonia, Pohnpei, FSM 96941
E-mail: [email protected]
Skype: drew.robinson19
I’m living with two roommates, Dale and Ian, who are really cool guys and have been very helpful in the transition process, answering a lot of questions and teaching me more about the culture. They are working on emergency management and public safety issues while they’re here. Upstairs is Kat and the resident three-year old, Kai. In a day or two John will be coming back from the states, which everyone is looking forward to.
On Friday I met Mr. Benjamin, aka Mr. B, who I will be working closely with on the Professional Growth for Educators project. We will be working with seven schools across the island conducting assessments and looking to see how we can best help them. We are hoping to secure more funding so that we can expand the number of schools. Speaking of which, I will also be working on grant writing while I’m here. Somehow everyone thinks I’m a professional grant writer. I don’t know how that misconception started, but they need a professional grant writer so I suppose the only thing to do is step up to the plate and do my best!
There’s so many things to write about I don’t even know where to begin. Here’s a quick piece of culture – when waving someone to come over to you, you need to be very careful of what hand gesture used. You’re supposed to wave someone over with your palm down, or if you’re feeling risky, sideways. If you wave someone over with your palm facing up it means, in politically correct terms, “Let’s go have sexual relations in the bushes.” I sure hope I don’t forget that one.
Over the coming weeks, I will be writing more about Pohnpeian life and culture on topics such as transportation, food, social life, religion, politics, language, education, and infrastructure, to name a few. I’ll also be sure to post pictures as well. If there is anything you're particularly curious about, feel free to contact me.
My full contact information is below and posted on the home page:
Drew Robinson
PO Box 2268
Kolonia, Pohnpei, FSM 96941
E-mail: [email protected]
Skype: drew.robinson19
