This is Christmas on Yap

Sing it out everyone.  There happens to be this mind-blowingly amazing song about Christmas on Yap that I can only describe as having the “stuck in your head for hours” quality of “It’s a Small World” from Disney.  It involves a lot of perfectly random lyrics that you cannot fully understand, but there are clear snippets of “There will be no sleigh this year.. something something. FIRE TRUCK” and “Pork wrapped in Taro leafs” and I believe there was some line in there about “canned spam.”  Sadly, this chart-topper is yet to make it to youtube so I cannot share its pure musical glory with you, but it is probably one of those songs that you need to live on a tiny island for almost 6 months to truly appreciate.

            “Merry Christmas!” from the island of Yap. (That is how you say Merry Christmas in Yapese…. Which means that basically, when Christianity – along with the story of the birth of Jesus – came to Yap – they never got around to making up a new word for it, so “Merry Christmas” just stuck)

           

            On Christmas Eve, I had a lot of the ex-pats over for a nice traditional family style dinner.  It turned out to be a perfect evening filled with lots of sharing of Christmas traditions and stories.  We even wrote letters to Santa and then burned them on the back porch to make sure they got to him on time.  Some people ended up hanging out until Midnight Mass.

            The mass was absolutely incredible.  St. Mary’s Church was beautifully decorated with palm leaves, native flowers, and lights.  It was packed and absolutely pouring rain, so you had to dodge rain drops as they leaked through the roof or just kinda accepted it and sat right in a puddle (yes… I sat right in a puddle and was too proud to move…) There was a traditional local dance performed by women from Dalipebinaw and they added lots of garland, tinsel, and glitter to their palm leaves and flowers to really add some Christmas spirit to the dance.  My favorite part of the mass was that all of the songs were traditional Christmas carols, but they were sung in Yapese.  Silent night was simply breath-taking during Communion.

            I spent Christmas day with my Yapese family at a little barbeque in our koyeng.  It was a simple way to spend the holiday with friends and family.  For dnner, I went to the Jesuit residence where we had a fantastic turkey dinner with some good friends who have been in the Micronesian islands for many years.  To round out my Christmas festivities, I was able to Skype with my family on the 26^th while they were all together on their Christmas night.

            This Christmas season may not have been what I am used to, but it still continues to be my favorite time of year as it is filled with love, laughter, and family.

My little brother in his Christmas present

The boys enjoying the Christmas barbeque

Christmas Barbeque

St. Mary's Church

Manger at St. Mary's

“Christmas needs love to be Christmas.”

            -Andy Williams

Yap Family

            Over this Christmas break, I have had a lot of free time to hang out with the other ex-pats, chill with the Jesuits, and work on some projects around the house and village.  My favorite part of this break, though, is all of the time I am able to spend with my “Yap Family.”  Our neighbors have always been wonderful to us, but the past few weeks have gradually led to more and more just sitting and talking with them in our new koyeng.  The other day, I told Mary that when people asked about her, I told them she was my “Nina” which means mother in Yapese.  The whole family was so thrilled to be able to consider me a son and brother.  It felt so natural. 

            Now, Peter is going to give me for Christmas an “ankle strap” made of some type of woven palm tree bark in order to start my work on climbing trees.  He is also going to teach me how to wear my “thu” – so we will be collecting the various parts (for a loin cloth – there are a lot of parts haha) over break.  No worries – the thu usually covers almost everything.

            To thank my new family, I had them all over for a dinner with the Jesuit priests.  I made some beef barbeque, and lentil and bean barbeque for those who don’t eat the island meat, as well as a stew and some vegetables and cookies.  Mary made a 5-course meal buffet style with her famous stuffed crabs, taro dishes, pork and chicken, and even some local ice cream served in a pumpkin. (Fun fact – the pumpkin is mostly white so it is called “ngubchit” – I have no idea of the spelling and can barely even say it – but they it also is the word they use to refer to “white people” – it has already come in handy when talking to the little kids in the village)  It was an amazing night of food, music, and great conversation. 

After the priests, Mary and the kids left, Tracy, Maria, and Peter stayed behind for a while so we could look at pictures I have taken of Yap, and then we went through a ton of pictures of my family, and Keri, and Scranton, and camp, and home.  We decided we would need to do this more often, and I said maybe once a month we could try to have dinner, and next time our other neighbors will join us as well.  It was an incredible night.  It led into tonight, where we all hung out under the koyeng with Thafarad and I learned so much about the different villages and how the caste system truly is supposed to work, and how it has been corrupted throughout the years.  I had the greatest Yapese history lesson there is, and all while sitting under a koyeng on our bamboo platform in the pouring rain.  I will be spending Christmas day at their family barbeque when they all simply get together to celebrate Jesus’ birth. 

Blurry because I was so far away, but here is Thafarad at his Christmas Show

TPK Christmas Ornaments - with my Christmas present to the girls
- a full length mirror - almost impossible to find on the island

Dinner preparations

Lots of food - American and Yapese

Mary's Delicious Stuffed Crabs

Local Ice Cream

"So I don't need bells to be ringing

'Cause I'll join with angels singing Gloria.

And I can feel Christmas like a child

I want to feel Christmas like a child..."

-"Christmas Like a Child" - Third Day

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer...

… is singing loud for all to hear. 

            Following the wise words of my alter-ego, Buddy the Elf (yes, I am officially adding him to the list of alternate personalities - , right alongside Gordy Silverstein and Baby Dewey), I have spent the first few days of my break immersed in friendship, food, and music.  Quick side note while I mentioned elves… I am proud to say that the Christmas elf tradition was kept alive this year by Kaela Ward as she dressed as Tinsel the elf to spread holiday cheer to some happy little first graders.  Also, it was simply amazing to be able to talk with  a few of my best friends from high school as they continued the annual Christmas party tradition… it made my weekend.

            Now, back to Yap – as I was saying, the past few days have been chock full of holiday merriment.  On Monday night, we had our “Lessons in Carols” program that we have been preparing for over a month.  The choir was breath taking.   They all put in such an unbelievable amount of work and it really came together so beautifully in the end.  The energy, the adrenaline, the excitement was just flowing through all of us and they absolutely nailed it.  It was a perfect way to spread some holiday cheer on Yap and to get into the Christmas mood.

            On Tuesday, we had a fun dress down day at school that consisted of volleyball/ basketball, The Santa Claus, and mass.  It was a nice relaxing day to start off the Christmas break. 

            Thursday night, our neighbor – Mary – who I now call “Nina” because she is my Yapese mother – told me that Thafarad would be performing in the St. Mary’s Elementary School Christmas show.  We went together and sat on the floor of the improvised auditorium packed in among hundreds of eager families.  Thafarad’s first grade class sang first and he was adorable.  Afterwards, I went to pick him up from his classroom to bring him back to sit with Mary and I for the rest of the show.  He spent the show on my lap and singing around me.  It was an amazing night.  A bunch of my students were there and after asked me who that little boy was.  I simply told them that he was my little brother and said “Can’t you see the family resemblance?”  I chitchatted with a lot of my local friends who went to the show and it turned out to be an all-around amazing evening.

            Today, we had our second concert performance at St. Mary’s Church and the singing was even more incredible.  They almost had me in tears as they sand “Hail Mary, Gentle Woman” and “O Holy Night.”  I am so proud of them, and I let them know just how much happiness they have brought me during this holiday season.  I talked about how difficult it is to be away from home during this time of year, but I was so blessed to have all of them to make my Christmas so special.   Each and every day I keep falling more and more in love with this island, with this culture, with these people. 

            

December Pictures

Freshmen Class Picture for their pen pals in Mrs. Stephanie Hartline's English Class

Freshmen "Silly" Picture

Koyeng Construction

Junior Chemists

Koyeng Construction

Just chilling on top of our koyeng

Peter and I working on the roof

Sunset over our lake on campus

YCHS Christmas Concert Decorations

Fr. Corcoran welcoming everyone to YCHS

The crowd that could fit inside, there were even more people crowded around outside sitting on the veranda and  in various spots around campus

Choir preparing to sing

Choir after their first performance

Home Alone

Yesterday was our final day of school before Christmas break.  The past few weeks have been non-stop craziness and I could not be happier about it.  At school, I had to finish out classes for the quarter because when we return to school we will have a few days of review and then midterm exams.  I managed to squeak in two fun labs with my Juniors, including a completely improvised, not sure if this will really work, idea of introducing the concept of identifying an unknown by using various white powders (flour, sugar, salt, baby powder, baking soda, and anything else you can find in a general store…) and it ended up being a huge success – much better than I could have anticipated.  I also managed to create 20 sets of tangrams made out of recycled cardboards boxes to use with my Sophomores.  And to top it all off – this whole time the choir and I were working our little Yapese butts off every day during study hall to perfect our Christmas concert (we finished one performance on Monday night, but more on that in a later post, after our second show on Saturday).

            Oh, and don’t let me forget to mention that amidst all of this going on, we also had our school accreditation visit, which involved a lot of extra organizing and cleaning of the school – on top of making sure lesson plans were immaculate and complete.  Of course, of the two classes that were chosen to be observed, my Geometry class was first up.  It reminded me a lot of the national camp inspection at Minsi, except this time I was in front of a classroom.  Overall – it went incredibly well with the sophomores really getting to show off just how much they have learned over the past few months as we reviewed for our final chapter test for the quarter.  A comment along the lines of - “You know, I don’t know how he made such a boring subject so fun and exciting” was passed on to our principal – It was a real pick-me-up to carry me through to the Christmas break.

            Now that break has begun, I am officially home alone… and yes, I have already re-enacted the scene from the movie where I try out shaving for the first time… and yes, I plan to booby trap the house with the most ridiculous possible ideas.  But in all seriousness, the girls all left for the States last night leaving me with the house to myself for the break.  I have already hosted some friends for dinner and am inviting our incredible neighbors over for a dinner get together with the priests.  I have lots of other plans that will range from some home renovations, to working in the village, to hanging out with some of my new Yapese friends, to chilling with the ex-pat family, to relaxing under the new koyeng that I helped build with the neighbors.

            Sidenote:  I helped build a traditional koyeng this weekend!  A koyeng is a small little hut shelter made out of bamboo, with a roof that is layered with woven palm leaves.  It was such a cool process to be a part of as I practiced my tree climbing skills while balancing on top of shaky bamboo sticks and trying not to fall through the roof that we had just put on.  And to make it even better, the language barrier was greater than usual and so hilarious pantomiming and misinterpretations made the construction quite the adventure.  It was awesome.  I loved just getting to work with the locals on something so traditional.

            Phew, I feel like I have so many stories to catch everyone up on, so maybe these next two weeks I will try to put up multiple short posts about some of the general adventures that have been going on over the past few weeks.   Picture post coming soon.

            Kammagar for all of the love and support.  It means the world to me.

Hang-Up Dance

Last week, I stopped by our small local village store (when I say small – I mean like your standard concession stand at a little league baseball game – maybe even smaller) to pick up some things.  The elderly couple who run the stand excitedly told me that all of the Catholic volunteers needed to make sure to come to the Nimar Hang-up Dance on Saturday, which would start at 12:00 – but that meant it won’t start until sometime around 1:30.  The man briefly explained to me that a hang-up dance was a traditional dance that was going to be retired for a certain period of time.  Usually hang-up dances are done in celebration or commemoration of something.  He told me that the entire village would be there and that he was excited to see us there.

            I talked to Fr. John about the dance and he told me it was customary for everyone to bring something to share with everyone.  He suggested a bottle of wine because everyone would want to celebrate after.  When I double checked this with my Yapese mother, Mary, she laughed at me and told me that this hang-up dance was being performed by children, so wine would not be the best choice.  She said since we were family that the TPK did not have to bring anything, but I insisted that we wanted to share something, so she suggested cookies or a cake.  Thanks, Mom, for the cookies you sent – the entire village loved them (I made a batch of my own too – but I needed more and chocolate chips are impossible to find on the island). 

            On the day of the dance, we walked the 45 seconds to the village community center (a pavilion type structure surrounded with our village’s stone money) and sat down.  In Yapese culture, you are not supposed to squat, or sit on little half walls (they are for leaning against), and your legs should never dangle over the sides of anything – it makes it seem like you are in a hurry to leave.  There were tables upon tables of local food – including an amazing crab dish that was served in the shell, made by our amazing Mary of course.  Our whole village was there – which totaled to a little over 100 people or so.  The women and children all sat and chatted in the pavilion, while the men stood by the little store and tattoo parlor (yes, our village is proud to be the home of Yap Tribal Tattoo owned by our chief’s son, Leo – he is awesome).

            The children performing the dance ranged from ages 7-18 (or something like that).  One of our sophomores, Genevieve, was performing the dance and was one of the leaders who started the chants.  All of the dancers were in local attire and they were so proud to be representing their culture.  This hang-up dance was a “Stick Dance” which involves bamboo and a lot of intricate, well-timed motions and swinging and hitting of the sticks to make a beat, often while chanting.  It was absolutely mind-blowing.  One of the most mesmerizing things I have ever witnessed.  So much agility, control, rhythm, concentration, passion, energy.

            After the dance, the chief of our village (who also happens to be the older man who runs the village store – I just didn’t know this at the time) brought me an iced pineapple and coconut drink that I think was only be passed to some of the men of the village – as he handed it to me he smiled and whispered “Oh – it is a little spiked.”  I felt honored to be welcomed into the community of the men of the village (yes, I intentionally worded that so that I didn’t say “village men”).  I spent the next hour or so eating and talking with the people of Nimar and meeting many new people who all assured me they knew who I was because they all knew the Americans.  The gratitude of everyone was overwhelming.  Honestly – one of the most perfect experiences I have had on Yap thus far.

Summer in her new grass skirt

The dancers getting ready to perform

A brief pause in the dance

           

I am so unbelievably blessed to have this opportunity in Yap.  It is so much more than just a volunteer experience, it is a new way of living – a new way of loving. 

“I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages

and took care of each other.”

- Peter Seeger

Surviving Bopha

Last weekend, Super-Typhoon Bopha was predicted to hit the island of Yap straight on.  This massive storm had projected winds of up to 150 mph, thus granting the esteemed title of “Super”-Typhoon – no, but seriously, that is the official meteorological naming system.  Yap had been devastated by a typhoon that hit the island almost 10 years ago and so everyone was working on their own survival plans.  Many of the locals had arranged to all gather in the houses in their village that were made of concrete, since their own homes would be absolutely obliterated by any high winds.  They all seemed strangely calm about this, as if they knew that no matter what happened, everything would be alright.  As for the TPK, we had our house promptly boarded up so that inside not only was it pitch black, it also created an oven-effect in which trapped all of the heat inside.  We prepped for the worst, stockpiling clean water, food, and flashlights.  When the weekend finally arrived, we saw nothing but bright blue skies and an ominous dark sky just outside of the reef.  You could see the giant waves crashing onto the reef, but thankfully, we received nothing but a few hours of rainfall and some minor winds.  Bopha skirted far south of Yap and the island only experienced the outer effects.  Another island, Palau, also seemed to be blessed when Bopha again seemed to go further south just before hitting straight on, although, they were hit harder than Yap.  Unfortunately, the super-typhoon picked up more speed during its journey and slammed the Philippines causing much destruction and over 200 reported deaths.  While we are very thankful that we did not have to experience the true force of the typhoon, our thoughts and prayers go out to all those who were not as fortunate.

“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” 

                                                                                     - Morris West

Heartbroken

This past week was a long, rough one with certain undesirable issues arising at school.  I will not get into details, but one of our freshman withdrew last week and it felt like a little piece of my heart broke off with her.  Our freshman family just does not feel the same without her.  It hurts… really, really hurts.

 But from this hurt—from this indescribable void -  I am learning that life is not worth living if your heart is not breaking.  Although the pain seems unbearable during that splitting moment, it reminds you that you are human.  And in order for your heart to break… you need to have loved… and if you take the risk of loving – then your heart is inevitably going to be broken – but that shattered heart reveals just how powerful that love can be.

To love means that your heart is going to be broken.  Keep loving.  Keep breaking. 

  “The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.”

                                                                        -Mother Teresa

Man-Date

         On Thursday, the TPK headed to the Jesuit Community for our second round of Thanksgiving dinner.  There ended up being 11 of us total and we had quite the traditional feast.  I managed to whip up a pumpkin pie with a crust that I had to make from scratch and my mother somehow managed to mail over a batch of her famous Chocolate Turkeys which we devoured.  It was a great way to spend the holiday with good friends and good food.

            While at dinner on Thursday, our new friend, Norman, invited me to come visit his house down South and to get a tour of a side of the island that I had not yet seen.  Norman spends half of his year in Yap and the other half in Rhode Island.  He originally worked in Chuuk as a Peace Corps volunteer and has been in Micronesia for a number of years.  I decided to term my visit to the south as a “Man-Date” because since my graduation from Scranton – my life has been considerably lacking in bro-time.  Now – Norman is probably around 20-30 years older than I am, but bro-time is bro-time. 

            So – I spent my Saturday with Norman exploring the South.  He lives in Kanifay, which is a very private, very quiet part of Yap.  Whenever you go anywhere outside of your village, you need to ask permission and usually be accompanied by someone from the village you are visiting.  Norman was my guide as we walked through one of the largest stone money banks in Yap which he had helped to restore.  It is incredible to think how these HUGE pieces of stone were carved into circles with large holes in the middle, then transported of miles across open ocean in just simple canoes, and then somehow dragged to the middle of the island.  These things easily weigh multiple tons… the largest of which was about a foot taller than me.  We then explored the jungle finding the ruins of stone platforms that traditional houses used to be built on.  There were remnants of houses, clay pots, medicine bottles, everything.  It was an absolutely breathtaking and humbling experience.

            After our exploration, we headed to the small church down south, St. Francis.  I was quickly greeted by a couple of my students.  One of which told me he had to go get changed because he was altar serving.  He came out in his traditional thu and I told him he is going to have to help teach me how to wear mine.  Seriously – these things look so practical for this heat – can’t wait.  Anyway – Fr. John (the Micronesian Provincial) said the mass and at the end introduced me to anyone who had not met me yet.  The deacon even gave me his nu-nu to wear around my neck.  Fr. John explained to me on the car ride home that the reason he re-introduced me is because before mass started, the girls were all gossiping about how old I was because they  were curious about the cute tall white boy.  They had come to the conclusion that I was 16.. so he felt the need to set them straight.  All I will say is that if I still look 16 by the time I get back to the States, I cannot wait to use my sweet Yap Driver’s License when I get ID’ed.

            “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”

                                                -Amelia Earhart

Home for the Holidays

            On Yap – Thanksgiving is not celebrated as a major holiday … for obvious reasons.  If you hesitated for a second on figuring that one out – in all sincerity, Good for you!  Thanksgiving may have its roots in those beginning days of settlement in America – but the true meaning of the day has become something much more pure.  When you celebrate Thanksgiving Yap Style, you are basking in that simple gratitude, that indescribable appreciation, that true feeling of friendship and fidelity among family. 

            Thanksgiving is truly about being with family.  I mean – look at how we celebrate – we gather together with unending amounts of food, gather around cramped tables that have been squeezed wherever we can fit them – just to simply share a meal together – to simply be with each other.  That is how we spent our Yap Thanksgiving.  One of the older ex-pats, Tim, and his phenomenal wife, Lucy, have been on Yap for a number of years.  Lucy is Yapese and Tim is American.  They raised their kids in the United States, and then returned to Yap – to the family they loved and missed.  One thing they missed about the states though is the celebration of coming together as a family for Thanksgiving.  Tim realized that all of the ex-pats on the island are away from their families and loved ones back home – so every year – they host a Yap-style Thanksgiving dinner for all of those who are so far from home.  They invite their Yap family.

            The Taro Patch Kids were commissioned with the task of roasting the second turkey – which of course none of us had fully done before.  And to make it even better- we went for the biggest bird in the store (YCA gets a whole bunch of frozen turkeys sent in for this season) – weighing in at almost 28 pounds.  We were up at 5:45 AM getting our lovely turkey (who was named Taylor – gender neutral – or T-bird for short) prepped for the big day.  The feeling in our house was electric… it felt like a true holiday.  We were all so excited to get “dressed up” and to bring our turkey and just to spend time with our incredible Yap family.

            The day was perfect.  T-bird came out splendid after 6 hours of roasting.  Lucy made an amazing gravy from the juices we used for basting.  There was corn hole, and guitars, and betelnut, and cooking, and laughter.  It was a true family holiday.

            At the end of the night, I walked over to the sink and started doing dishes without even thinking about it.  Lucy and her many sisters (many. Many. Many. Sisters) began yelling at me to stop and that I should be outside enjoying myself.  I turned around and smiled and told them that I was fully enjoying myself just washing the dishes – it is something that I always liked to do after my family’s Thanksgiving feasts – and to be doing it here made me feel at home.  They laughed and told me I could “feel at home” whenever I wanted if I ever felt like cleaning more.

            I ended the evening sitting inside with Lucy and a few of her sisters.  We just sat and talked for an hour or so about Yap, and about my life in the United States.  We talked about school and our hopes for the students and our hopes for all of Yap.  We talked about my family and friends back home, we talked about Keri, we talked about just about everything.  It was perfect.  As I was preparing to leave, one of Lucy’s sisters, Monica, looked me right in the eye and told me – we are a big family, and we are here to help each other – we may not have much, but we want to help you in any way that we can.  I held back the few tears and told them that their kindness, their friendship, their welcoming into their family was all I could ever ask for.

             I may not be with my true family, and all of my friends back in the States – but at least I can say that for this Thanksgiving, I was home for the holidays.

Our 28 pound baby

T-bird roasting slowly

Proud parent

The aftermath

“You can go other places, all right - you can live on the other side of the world,

 but you can't ever leave home”  

                                                                                - Sue Monk Kidd

Canoe Festival

            Yap takes great pride in preserving its traditional heritage and culture while adapting alongside the modern age.  Very few places in the world have been able to maintain this fragile balance between tradition and modernization.  The people of Yap still follow and respect many of the customs of their ancestors and despite bringing in modern technology and improvements, they have still managed to ensure that their beautiful culture remains pure.  One important aspect of this preservation is the annual Yap Canoe Festival.

            The festival lasts three days and is focused around the traditional navigational skills of the Yapese people.  There are canoe carving demonstrations, paddling races between villages, swimming races for the children, sailing canoe rides and demos, lots and lots of local all food, music, and more.  Canoe Festival is one of the largest events and celebrations of the year – and while in comparison to the United States it may resemble a church fair or bizarre – it was an absolutely wonderful weekend full of fun, feasting, and friends.

            One highlight of my weekend was being able to experience my first traditional dances.  The two that I witnessed were done by all men and I had no idea what to anticipate.  My friend, Martin, led the first dancers in holding up a piece of shell money, which in accordance with tradition, must be presented to the village that is hosting the dance.  Once the shell money has been exchanged, the men form a straight line all wearing their traditional attire – which consists of nu-nus (leis made of flowers and leaves that can be worn on the head as a crown or around the neck), thus (the loin-cloth type garment), hibiscus (wrapped around the waste and thighs), and a covering of some type of yellow oil that I cannot remember the exact name.  The men also ranged in age from probably 5-70.  The older, more experienced men stood in the middle of the line, and the youngest stood on the outside.

            Then the dance would begin.  Clapping, chanting, yelling, thigh slapping, very controlled movements of the hands and arms, and then slowly adding in leg movements.  The dances tell a story – they have been passed down for generations to preserve the stories of their ancestors.  You could see in the men’s eyes how proud they were to be performing this beautiful dance – how passionate they were about this great honor.  The dance sped up faster and faster as it proceeded until there was a whirl of pelvic thrusts and slapping (in most dances there is always some sexual aspect to the story apparently – or so it would seem).  And then with one final yell and bicep double slap, the dance was complete.  Everyone went wild for these dancers – it was one of the most AWESOME (no other word could possibly describe it) experiences I have had on Yap.

            The second dance I was able to see ended up being perfectly timed with a typical Yap downpour, so after chilling in the traditional Community House for almost an hour, we all ran through the rain to the big pavilion type Community Center to watch the men’s dance.  Martin was performing in this one as well as a few other guys I know, including one who I play volleyball with.  It was mesmerizing.  So controlled – so in sync – so passionate – so rhythmic.  Simply amazing.

            Today – we decided to take a day off from the festival and went for some unbelievable dives.  I will keep it short and simple (I will post more dive stories soon) – I was a foot away from GIANT manta rays… I saw a bizarre lion fish… a small black fish decided to  go wild protecting its reef and was biting at my hair… I looked down into the endless depths of the ocean in crystal clear blue water … I swam with many, many reef sharks today – like with them with them. 

            Yap still continues to surprise me and amaze me each and every day.  

A new day – a new adventure.

Traditional Sailing Canoe

Men's Dance 

Men's Dance

Martin and I before his dance

“Life is either a great adventure or nothing.” 

                                                     – Helen Keller

The Hospital...

After four months on Yap, it has finally happened.  My body finally gave in to the relentless swarm of unknown pathogens and viruses that swirl around me in this tropical environment that between a mixture of high humidity and intense heat creates a perfect breeding ground for all of the organisms I experienced in Microbiology… except this time, they decided to infest my body rather than stay nice and calm, cool, and collected in the petri dish under the microscope.  Unfortunately, I could not simply sterilize my body like my inoculation loop (that was the super fancy word we used that meant putting a metal wire bent into a circle into a Bunsen burner flame to clean it.. in other words: burning all of the bad germs to death)… so I made my first daring adventure to the …..(dramatic pause) ….. Yap State Memorial Hospital.

Now, I had heard some horror stories about the hospital here on Yap… the type of stories that you tell around a camp fire when you are 10 years old and even though they are utterly ridiculous, you still end up squeezing 8 people into a 2-person tent and you refuse to go to the bathroom in the woods by yourself.  These terrifying stories of the apparent torture that occurs at the hospital had me keep my distance through a few painful episodes.  I have now made it through two nights that had me waking up in a cold sweat with unbearable stomach cramps that allows me to spend the rest of the evening getting incredibly well acquainted with the bowl of our toilet – we had some pleasant “conversations” from both ends.  Yes, I just said what you think I said… it is my blog… it was my odd food poisoning or some other bizarre stomach bug, and I choose to present it here.

Anyway, back to my main story… I despise having to go to the hospital, some innate superhero-complex that I can fight whatever it is inside me and I don’t need any help (once led me to crawling around on the floor of my office at Camp Minsi with a 103 degree fever during staff week because I refused to stop working and get checked out… thanks Bubba for carrying me to emergency room for my meds J).  But, alas, I was discovering that the multiple slashes, gashes, scrapes and bruises I had accumulated on my legs from volleyball and casual machete-ing (I need to find out the gerund form of machete.. or invent it) were beginning to turn an odd whitish-red color and smelled that oh so indescribable smell that can only mean one thing: infection.  I sucked up my pride and went to the hospital where I made the initial conclusion that it was not nearly as dirty or terrifying as the stories had made it seem.  I checked in, waited about 30 minutes to process my new patient paperwork – which by the way includes no insurance whatsoever… here on Yap, all medical expenses other than prescriptions are covered by the government.  The very kind nurse, Noah, took me in to see the doctor, who told me that infections are incredibly common in this type of environment and that they had plenty of the medication I would need in stock.  She filled out my prescription, I asked if they could give my wounds a thorough cleaning, which Noah did so perfectly.  This also allowed me the time to learn oodles of information about the Yap medical care system and where the doctor and nurse got their education and training.

I left the hospital singing to myself after picking up my meds for the low cost of $7.  It turned out to be a fantastic adventure as I met a few wonderful new people on Yap as well as saved my legs from the villain that took the form of some staphylococcal bacteria. 

Tune in next time as Yapman will live to fight another day.  Same Yap time.  Same Yap channel.

Yap State Memorial Hospital

My Meds and some free gauze rolls
 (Oh... I may have forgotten to mention my hospital name is now "Micheal" , minor detail)

Not so graphic picture of a couple of my machete cuts post cleaning/ antibiotic

“Live in the moment.  Live for the moment.  This is the moment.”  -Unknown

Love is Here

Back in Scranton, the Search retreat is taking place at Chapman Lake.  This entire week, I struggled with being away from the unbelievable support system of hugs, laughter, and tears that always come with this weekend.  Search brought me together with some of my best friends... life long friends that I could not imagine my life without.  As Andrew Kelly and I put it: we will be at each other's weddings.  A large portion of my greatest friendships, memories, and challenges came through retreats at Chapman Lake.  From FIRST, to Search and so many others - I would not be where I am today... I would not be who I am today without those indescribable weekends at the lake house.

Search weekends have always been a source of rejuvenation for me.  They remind me to remember what is truly important in life.  They remind me to not just talk about changing the world, but to fully live each day making a difference, making people smile, living the way we were meant to live.  Loving the way we were meant to love.

Sometimes, when the Search retreatants return to campus, they are so enveloped in the powerful emotions and connections of the weekend that those who did not go on the retreat develop a negative feeling towards the retreat, seeing it as "cultish" or cliquey.  Unfortunately, this is a side effect of having a spiritually ground breaking weekend and experiencing whirlwind of emotions and transformation with others - there will be an inevitable bond that you will want to just embrace... and then you will literally want to run around embracing everyone who you shared the experience with and sing your songs, and do your secret high fives, and laugh and be joyous and merry.  But one thing I have always focused on during Search weekend was to make sure that the love, the support, the results of the retreat were being spread to everyone.  Search is not about becoming best friends with the 50 people at the lake house that weekend, yes, it may happen, but that is not the main result.  The true meaning, the undying truth, the undeniable secret of Search is that we are loved... all of us.  And we are called to bask in that love, to realize just how special we are... and then we begin to recognize just how much we love everyone else in our lives - we see how special they are... we genuinely appreciate their presence in our lives.  We learn to love like Jesus... to love like there are no limits... to give pure, beautiful, passionate agape.

At first, I felt like I was going to dread this weekend.  I would become one of the outsiders looking in at this Search clique that was having the time of their lives together and I wasn't invited.  Then I realized just how ridiculous this feeling of jealousy was... I had forgotten the true meaning of Search.  I had forgotten that it was not about the physical presence of being there... it is about the love... it is about that indescribable, uncontrollable, unbelievable sense of appreciation for the goodness in each and every person.  No, I may not be there to hug, to cry, to sing, to dance, to talk, to celebrate, to do any other bizarre things that may occur this weekend in or out of the retreat.... but these are just results of agape... results of God's friendship in my life.  I now have new, unique results of agape in my life here on Yap - I have been able to write a whole slew of letters to my family at the Community Outreach Office, I was able to have some fantastic talks with my siblings, I was able to have a bro chat with one of my best friends about so many things going on in my head and in my life, I was able to skype with the love of my life and just talk about the big things, the little things, the important things, the everyday things, I was able to take a night hike to the radio tower and just fall in love with the star-filled sky.  I was able to feel the love of my friends, the love of my family, the love of God in a whole new way.

That is what agape is all about... loving unconditionally... loving fully... loving as if our lives depended on it.

You are in my thoughts and prayers, Search 68.  You are in my thoughts and prayers, Entire Search Family.  You are in my thoughts and prayers, Scranton.  You are in my thoughts and prayers, World.   

Agape Always.

"Shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel."

- James Taylor