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