And so it begins...

            I woke up on Tuesday morning at 6:18 AM just as the sun was beginning to rise.  I managed to beat the roosters to the punch with my alarm.  The “Yap Coalition of Catholic Volunteers” (we don’t actually have an official name yet, we are accepting any and all suggestions) decided to cook a full breakfast complete with pancakes, omelettes, and oatmeal for our big day.  We were all a blend of emotions ranging from eagerness, to terror, to pure giddiness (ok… maybe I was most of the pure giddiness…).  Our first day went almost flawlessly – which is shocking considering we were figuring out the details of the schedule while it was occurring. 

The students are all so excited to be back in school.  I begin my day with the freshmen homeroom and have patiently been drawing them out of their shells.  They were all so nervous, and shy, and quiet – so I may have given them one of my Communications lessons from Camp Minsi on how to project your voice.  I also have the freshmen class for religion, which is a terrifying notion.  Someone thought it was a good idea to entrust the religious education of their children to Mr. Michael J. Wiencek.  Let’s just say I hope God is hearing their prayers and watching over them as we go through this most interesting adventure.

The sophomores are a much more rambunctious group.  The are much more comfortable with eachother and love to see how far they can push you.  I can’t help but smile when I watch them interact with the teachers because I know exactly what games they are playing – the first time they tried to pull one of these on me I turned around, smiled, and told them that we can play these games if they want – but they should know that I have been playing on the varsity team since 6^th grade.  I was met with shocked stares before we all burst out into laughter.  Laughter is a huge part of our classroom experience at YCHS.  Everyone likes to learn, and to do their best, and to work hard – but we certainly have a fun time while doing it.  My Geometry class is going to be quite challenging as the basic math skills of the students are not very strong – but the students have such personalities that I know it is going to be awesome.

My chemistry class with the juniors is just downright FUN.  The class only has 8 students, and they have absolutely zero science background.  In four days, I think they have learned more about the world and how it works then they have in their entire lifetime – and most of that learning is happening when I get distracted on a tangent – which has now become an official part of our class because Chemistry just can involve so many different areas.  On Friday, I successfully pulled off the first Chem Lab Day at YCHS (maybe even the whole island!).  I went through boxes and boxes of donations to find what equipment was useable and practical – then I had to adjust the lab to fit our conditions – let’s just say teaching lab safety on an island where you go barefoot half the time is quite an interesting conversation.  We did a simple experiment, but everyone wanted to be involved in some way and I think it was something that they never thought they would experience.  I had a blast pulling it all together – and I think the juniors are truly having a great time while learning.

There are so many stories already that I want to share, and I will try to get some pictures posted as well – but I will work on picking out a few of those to post later this week.  So far, I am loving being in the classroom.  It feels great to be doing what I am here to do.  To be able to see how much goodness there is in every single one of the students is the most inspiring thing I have ever encountered.  I can honestly say that I am falling in love with this place.

“Love consists of sharing what one has and what one is with those one loves.  Love ought to show itself in deeds more than in words.” 

                                                                                       -St. Ignatius of Loyola

Opening Day

          Today was the day -  The day we have been working towards for the past 6 weeks - The day that has been long awaited for the past 12 months - The day that  has been put into motion over 2 years ago – The day that the people of Yap have prayed and hoped for long, long before I ever even knew the tiny island existed.  Today – Yap Catholic High School officially opened.

            YCHS (www.ychs.net) – began last year in borrowed space from the local St. Mary’s Parish with a freshmen and sophomore class.  This year – despite many obstacles, and with many graces – YCHS begins its second year on its own, brand-new campus.  Over 300 people gathered at the campus for an opening mass at 11:00 AM.  The mass was absolutely breathtaking.  There were people spread out everywhere – sitting on whatever they could find – logs, rocks, tarps, cardboard, flipflops.  There were Filipinos, Yapese, and Outer Islanders – all gathering together to celebrate the great accomplishment that they achieved together.  There was a choir representing each group – each singing in a different language.  There were gorgeous flower arrangements made from local plants and placed in banana tree stumps to stay fresh.  The campus abounded with smiles, laughter, pats on the back, congratulations, and just sheer admiration.  The Catholic community of Yap came together today out of mutual respect, accomplishment, and love.  As Fr. Mickey Corcoran, principal of YCHS, said in his fitting homily:

“This is our school. Not the students’ school, not the faculty’s school, not the priests’ school.  Not the board of director’s school. This is our school - the catholic community’s school.”

            Before mass began, I was able to talk with many of the students about the upcoming year.  Many of them were ecstatic to begin on Tuesday.  I was overwhelmed with excitement getting to interact with the students in a school setting.  I am slowly adapting to being called “Mr. Wine-check,” which we are slowly but surely working on correcting the pronunciation.  And I genuinely enjoy getting to know these teenagers – I can already tell this is going to be a fantastic year.  I also was able to talk to many parents and other members of the community.  They were so purely enthusiastic and grateful for what we are doing at YCHS.  I even met a woman who taught Chemistry on Guam for over 20 years who was very eager to help me in any way that she can as I began to describe to her the lab experiment I had adapted to be performed over a campfire rather than a Bunsen burner.

            I was able to take many pictures – most of which are posted to facebook, and more are sure to follow.  While doing so, I quickly became friends with the young altar server, John – who kept looking for any photo-op he could grab and asked to help me many times as we were setting things up.  Needless to say – I may have a new best friend – and of course he is probably 7.  As I was saying before I got sidetracked (so unlike me – I know…) – the mass was breathtaking.  The weather was gorgeous… up until the Our Father of course – when it began to absolutely downpour.  As one would expect – a general state of chaos ensued.  Many people squeezed hurriedly in under the hodge podge tent city we had set-up – I ran out into the sheet of water to direct people to the veranda of the Junior Classroom, and then I proceeded to walk around to the various groups of people scattered about hiding under trees, tarps, cardboard, a few umbrellas, and whatever else they could find – only to be greeted by huge smiles telling me they were fine in the rain.  Meanwhile – I was soaked through to the bone and took advantage of my saturated state to stay out in the rain with my fellow weather-endurers.  I decided I would try to keep everyone out in the rain up to speed with the Mass still going on, so I frolicked from group to group for the sign of peace – and then attempted to get everyone to Communion – which is usually done in the churches by the priest just standing in the front and everyone just goes in for the free for all.  So now we had about 300 sopping wet people milling around looking for 5 priests – it was wonderful calamity.  There was smiling, singing, a lot of “Sirows” (excuse me or sorry) as everyone was bumping into each other trying to stay under the tarps.  As I stood outside letting the rain come down all around me – I recognized just how special this image of the Eucharist was. 

            The mass was followed by an open house and huge picnic.  Almost everyone brought some local food to share and it was all delicious.  The students’ jaws dropped as they saw their new classrooms for the first time.  They rushed in to start checking out their books – many even took books from the classroom libraries to start reading before Tuesday.  The parents smiled approvingly, and many even sat down in desks and began paging through the text books – so proud of what their children would be studying in those very seats.  Other members of the community milled about admiring everything about the new campus – making sure to thank the faculty countless times and asking how they could help us clean-up.  I have never experienced such a high in my life.

            Finally, the day came to a close as we locked up and everyone headed home – but my day still had one more adventure to be conquered.  I drove the other volunteers home in Fr. John’s car (I just got my official Yapese Driver’s License the other day – all I had to do was pay $10 – it is a miracle there are not more accidents).  I then turned around and headed right back to the campus to pick up Fr. John since we couldn’t all fit in one trip.  It began to pour even harder as I approached the campus.  As I hopped out to let Fr. John into the driver’s seat – he yelled “Oh – let’s just help them get this one tarp down so they can take it home.”  So, once again, I forgot about the rain as it saturated every ounce of my being and happily joined the group of about 7 men who were taking down the tarp.  Of course, once we got one down – one of them shouted that we might as well get them all down so that people could pick them up tomorrow.  So for the next hour we ran around in the rain taking down tarps and counting and miscounting poles and connectors.  I have never had so much fun taking down tarps in the rain (spoken from much experience from my numerous camping trips).

            Today, we officially opened Yap Catholic High School.  Today, hundreds of people gathered together out of love to celebrate their accomplishment.  Today, I feel like I truly became a member of this unbelievably beautiful Yap family.

Freshmen before Mass

Only a portion of the crowd at mass

The local priests, deacon, and altar servers

Fr. Mickey Corcoran giving his Homily

Fr. John H. Presiding

After mass with some of the students

 “So the challenging thing becomes

  Not to look for miracles

  But finding where there isn’t one.”

                                                   -“Holy Now” – Peter Mayer

Final Preparations and a Filipino Birthday

            I wrote this post last night before opening day, but I didn’t have time to upload it – so here it is now to be very quickly followed by a post of today’s festivities!

            Today was the final ground clearing at the new campus of Yap Catholic High School before Opening Day on Sunday, August 19!  The amount of people that came out today to put the finishing touches on the campus was astounding.  Around 100 Yapese, Outer Islander, and Filipino volunteers from the community came to the new campus to help rake, clean, organize, burn leaves, finish paths, and help set-up the classrooms.  I could feel the excitement in the air – I joined in conversations that I clearly did not understand any of the verbal language, but excitedly smiled and laughed as we pointed at parts of the campus that we could not believe how absolutely beautiful they turned out.  I chatted with some students about the upcoming school year and their new classrooms – and it is such a pleasure to see just how genuinely excited they are for school to start – something that I do not think is quite as evident back home.  However, there are some things that are universal for teenagers.  The boys try to flirt and show-off for the girls.  The girls gather in their corners and gossip and giggle.  You can see the wave of nervousness that slowly passes across their eyes as their new teachers approach – something that I am not so sure if I like, but I will adjust.

            After we finished setting up the sophomore classroom – before we locked up – I stood by myself in front of the classroom looking out upon the desks piled high with books.  Then, I closed my eyes and absorbed everything I could in that moment.  I felt the smooth hardwood floor slide across the bottom of my naked feet.  I filled my nostrils with the fresh, natural, pure air.  I smiled to myself as I felt myself truly engulfed by happiness, by goodness, by God.  It was a perfect moment.

            Tonight, the entire faculty was invited by our Filipino friend, Connie, to her house for dinner.  We were unaware that this dinner was actually a birthday party for Connie.  We were the first to arrive at 6:00 PM (time doesn’t really apply to anything on Yap – for example, a few families showed up at 8:00 PM with full dinner entrees).  Slowly, the house began to fill with more and more people.  It was raining outside – so we were all nice and cozy inside until there was just no more space as we leaked out onto the be-drizzled porch.  We met a few other Americans who were on the island as Mormon missionaries.  They were our age and I was able to talk to them about the Boy Scouts – which – fun fact- happens to be the unofficial male youth group of the Church of Latter Day Saints.  The food never seemed to stop coming.  I indulged in everything there was to offer – 5 different types of fish, chicken, rice, noodles, beef, lumpia, cake, pudding, icecream, fruit – anything on the table – I tried.  It was all absolutely delicious and the energy was electric in that small home.  It was such a fun, relaxing way to end a busy, exciting day as we head into the official opening day of YCHS!

Freshmen and Sophomore Classrooms

Sophomore Classroom

Junior Classroom 

Tarp #1

Tarp #2 - Reminded me of Camp!

Just Casually Climbing a Tree to Hang a Tarp

The Set-Up for Opening Day

“Behold God beholding you … and smiling.”

                                                   -Anthony de Mello SJ

Countdown to Opening Day!

         After 5-6 weeks of various, ferocious preparations, we are finally just days away from Opening Day for the new Yap Catholic High School campus.  Over my time on this wonderful little island I have learned a great deal about the Yapese culture, my relationships, and most importantly myself.  In such a short time, our house has been transformed into a home – it took many, many hours and a few improvisations in order to fix, repair, re-upholster, paint, build, and about 11 things that we do not have words for in the English language – but our volunteer dwelling has transformed into a beautiful, comfortable island home.

           At the new campus, I have helped with an assortment of jobs that have included machete-ing, moving rocks, digging, shoveling coral/stone, raking stone, filling pot holes, picking up trash, lifting obnoxiously heavy barrels of tar with an MacGuyver-esque pulley and chain system over a tree branch, and enjoyed all of this time in the company of my fellow YCHS volunteers (we are currently in the process of choosing an official name – suggestions greatly welcomed) and the huge number of volunteers from the community.  I have had the pleasure of eating barbeque fish and chicken cooked over an open fire as well as a wide variety of local foods ranging from breadfruit, to tapioca, to taro, to soursop.  Eating on the ground with filthy hands, no plates or utensils, and ignoring the flies and ants swarming the food has become as natural as brushing my teeth.  The other day, I was asked to drive a pick-up truck to transport some garbage and other materials to the dump.  Now, I have observed this truck in action – it lacks some crucial mirrors, has broken down due to battery issues at least twice, and of course – it is a standard stick-shift vehicle.  I hopped right on in assuming that I could remember how to drive stick – after only having learned to drive stick on Wanda the tractor at Camp Minsi.  I made it fairly safely to the dump and back after only stalling out 3 times and never once endangering anyone’s life.  My time at the ground clearings for the campus have helped me to interact with the locals and to gain such a better insight into their culture – needless to say – I have had a blast doing this and will be sad to see these days end next week.

            I have also been preparing for my classes and other activities I will help run at the school.  I will be teaching Freshmen Religion, Sophomore Geometry, and Junior Chemistry.  I am ecstatic for all three because they all present such different challenges.  I have so much flexibility with my religion class, so that should be an adventure for all of us since I myself am still at such a preliminary point in my spiritual life.  Geometry will present its own obstacles due to the poor background in mathematics – which I have experienced already through some summer school tutoring.  Finally, Chemistry will probably be the most interesting course to teach as I will be attempting to perform experiments over camp fires and teaching laboratory safety in a culture where shoes and long pants are essentially never worn.  On top of my educational duties, I will also be working on our Campus Ministry Team and coaching the Volleyball and Robotics Teams.  Those are in quite the preliminary stages still, but already we are discussing doing a Junior retreat, and we plan to have 2 robotics teams that will compete in the state contest, and we are discussing volleyball teams with the 2 other high schools on Yap.  I am anxious to get into the classroom and truly start to connect with the students.

            Opening Day will be on Sunday, August 19 where we will have an outdoor mass at the new campus as well as a huge picnic and open house.  I don’t even know how many people we are expecting – but I do know it is going to be huge!  Lots of nu-nus!  Our first day of school will be on Tuesday, August 21.  The new campus is almost ready to open – but we still have a lot to do before Sunday.  We still need to move a few desks and chairs out to the campus as well as set-up and put together the classrooms!  Oh yeah – we also need to organize all of the books before we start on Tuesday.

            I have definitely felt busy and at the same time feel like I have all the free time in the world.  Life is so much simpler – so much calmer here.  Fewer distractions.  A more pure way of living.  I have treasured the patience that I have been granted in this first month as things just move much more slowly on the Island of Stone Money- and usually they just don’t seem to make logical sense.  I am grateful for my time spent adjusting to my life on this tiny island, but I think it is safe to say that I am just as excited to start school here as I have been to go back to Scranton, or to return to Camp Minsi – I think that is a sign that I am where I am supposed to be.

Front View of 1 of 3 Classroom Buildings

Inside a Classroom Building

Outside View of the Freshman Classroom Building

My First Experience with a Machete

Jane and Caitlin with the YCHS Sign

Rose and I using the "Compactor"

The Chain and Pulley System to lift really heavy barrels

'"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

                                                -Ralph Waldo Emerson

         

Stars

We may not have hot water.  We may not have the greatest selection of food.  We may not have a thriving economy.  We may not have movie theaters.  We may not have high-speed internet connections.  We may not have the everyday conveniences that we are used to in America.  But one thing that there is an abundance of here on Yap is time.

            This time is often filled with many physical projects, cleaning, cooking, and reading.  But one thing that this seemingly endless supply of time has offered me is the opportunity to think and reflect.  I find myself putting on my “Looking at the Stars” or “Oh Hey Jesus” playlist and just letting my mind wander.  I am able to contemplate the deep inner questions that always manage to fight their way to the surface of my consciousness, but they usually get quickly dragged back underneath by the constant waves of apparently necessary business or over-stimulation.  Here on the island, there are no pressing matters – there is no reason to get distracted – there is peace, and calm, and time.  In this quiet, I have been able to truly focus on the most important questions that travel through my mind. 

            Most often, I find myself getting lost in my thoughts while gazing at the stars.  The never-ending lights in the sky go on for galaxies on this serene island, free of all intruding light.  I thought I had seen some of the most clear skies, filled with stars during my many nights camping, but the Micronesian sky is so inundated with tiny white lights that I cannot even begin to find the most basic of constellations.  These are the skies that poets have tried to capture through words for centuries, the skies that artists never seem to be able to convey just right.  These skies are pure – and you can let your mind run free in them. 

            It has been nearly a month since my arrival on Yap, and I have already grown more than I could possibly imagine.  I have discovered how much genuine care, support, and love I have from my friends and family.  I have put to use the many skills, both mental and physical that I accrued over the past years.  I have formed new friendships and relationships that cannot compare to anything I have ever felt before.  I have gazed into the eternal heavens of countless, brilliant stars, and have affirmed that I am where I am meant to be.

A view from one of the highest points on the island

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

                                                                                                            -Mother Teresa

            

Saturday Morning Ground Clearings

As a volunteer at YCHS, part of my weekly routine is to head to our new campus and participate in Saturday ground clearings.  Fr. Mickey and Fr. John were reminiscing about their days in the novitiate when they had “Work Saturdays” that they often did cleaning or landscaping.  I thought I was hilarious when I said that the only activities I have been accustomed to on Saturday mornings are sleeping and cartoons on “One Saturday Morning.”  I got about half a chuckle out of the group… I need to work on my Yapese delivery.

Now, these “ground clearings” can encompass a vast variety of tasks in just a few hours.  To date, I have been a trash collector, log re-locater, machete-ist, tree climber, coral/stone shoveler, ground raker, rock collector, path clearer, hole digger and of course hole filler.    Most of these jobs involve getting covered in dirt, mud, stone, coral, smoke, and some things that I am not sure the proper term for.  The heat and humidity quickly makes for the most intriguing blend of sweaty, bodily scents as you begin to pray silently for a cloud, a breeze, or best of all – a downpour.  At today’s clearing, we were blessed with a day full of cooling winds, and an occasional opening of the heavens.  Unfortunately, stone and coral become much heavier and difficult to shovel when they are saturated… I told myself it was character building. 

            It is truly inspirational and motivating to see how many people from the community come out on these Saturdays to work on the new campus.  Most of the men work on moving logs, cutting down trees, and shoveling.  The women build fires with the wood chopped down, clear the other side of campus, and spend the morning cooking a glorious lunch of local food that usually includes barbequed tuna cooked directly in the coals of  the fires, giant pots of rice, and usually some combination of cooked breadfruit, banana-like fruit – except the bananas are gigantic, and taro.  There are Yapese, Phillipinos, and Outer Islanders.  There are a minimum of 4 different languages being spoken.  Some people are in t-shirts and shorts, while others are in native garments.  I am amazed that some of the men work so hard in their thus, and it still catches me off guard to see topless women cooking my lunch over a fire that they started with trees that they just cut down with a machete… mind-blowing.

I spent a large part of my day working with Fr. Mickey, Fr. John, and this young Yapese man, Dickson (my spelling could be completely off – also, I initially had been calling him Vincent… I blamed it on my accent).  Dickson is headed to Syracuse, NY next Saturday to begin his journey to becoming a Jesuit priest in the novitiate.  He was an incredibly cool guy and a phenomenal worker.  I am excited to hear about his transition from Yap to the United States and to see where he ends up throughout his Novice years. 

            Today, a fair sized group of us were working on filling in the dug-out paths between the school buildings with coral and stone.  However, we did not have the greatest selection of tools, so we were using shovels with random sticks for handles to load the back of a pick-up truck with a metal sheet in the bed.  The truck then would drive the 100 or so feet to where we were filling the path, where we would proceed to empty the truck with a variety of pieces of scrap wood and construction materials to push it all out.  I got hit countless times with shovels, coral, stone, and wood – and I just could not have cared less.  We then raked out the piles with our pieces of wood once again.  This continued for about 2-3 hours before lunch.  My hands are still raw and calloused – but it was such an awesome experience.  After lunch, a group of the women who had been cooking lunch wanted to help us, so they began taking buckets, paint cans, bags, and whatever they could find to start carrying the coral over and dumping it in the path- like straight up … It was one of the most beautiful things to be a part of and to just smile, laugh, and have a great time while working ourselves to the bone. 

“In fact, effective solidarity with the poor, both individual persons and entire nations, is indispensable for the construction of peace."      

                                                                                                           -Claudio Hummes

Be Prepared

The Boy Scout Law

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.

            Of my 22 years of life, nothing could have possibly prepared me more for life on the island of Yap than my time with the Boy Scouts of America.  The scout motto is to “Be Prepared,” and my many years in scouting have set me up to endure the challenges I will face this next year in my own personal “Survivor”-esque environment.

            I have already used dozens of taut line, two-half, and clove hitches.  Lashings have somehow managed to tie (GET IT!?) their way into my life once again.  Cooking creative meals with limited resources and in unconventional ways has become a mandate of proper nutrition.  Adapting to situations unknown and unique to my experiences, knowledge, and comfort marks an hourly endeavor.  Bottom line, every single moment of my scouting career – from my early days as a young Cub – to my transformative years as a Tenderfoot – to my summers and weekends spent building platforms, cabins, friendships and most importantly character at Camp Minsi – to my proudest achievement of Eagle Scout – has prepared me for this adventure in Micronesia, and the many other exciting, daring, unknown exploits that promise to follow.

            Only half-jokingly, I have been comparing my life in the village of Nimar to my days and nights living in the wilderness, by the beautiful Shores of Stillwater Lake, at my beloved home away from home – Camp Minsi.  After further explication into this analogy, I discovered that my daily life on the island is actually astonishingly synonymous to my unforgettable years at the greatest Boy Scout Camp this side of the Mississippi in an absurd number of different ways.

            First, when I look out my bedroom window, I am mesmerized by a gorgeous view into the drop-off of an endless, tropical jungle – a view that reminds me of opening the back flaps of my tent in the Staff Site of Minsi – the trees and wildlife are worlds apart, but they still carry such a peaceful simplicity.  One minor difference, I do not try to pee out of my window here in Yap like I used to out of the back of my tent in the middle of the night – it is considered improper.... plus, there is a screen.

            Second, I live in a home that is strikingly similar to one of the cabins at camp, particularly the Health Lodge (almost identical before we painted).  We have agonizingly slow internet – which truly it is such a blessing to have any connection to the world wide web whatsoever.  Unfortunately, we do not have a Scott Best here to call whenever we have computer issues.  The roads are identical – pot holes that get deeper by the day, dust flying everywhere when a car drives by, trucks that are used and abused far past their normal life expectancy – it is a grand reminder of my home away from home.

            Our neighbors take care of a multitude of little boys.  I believe I have spotted at least 7 different ones depending on the day.  (quick update: my little friend’s name is actually “Thafrad” – which means “foundation” in Yapese - He. Is. Awesome.)   Anyway, there are numerous screaming, sometimes crying, always half-naked boys running around our village.  I don’t even have to say it… but I will.  I am still living in the staff site… just 9,000 miles away.

The dirtiness becomes an accepted way of life.  We shower when we can, or when we feel like it has been a little too long since we last saw soap (the girls do a much better job at this than myself) – and then we hop into our graciously refreshing cold showers (if you thought camp was bad – try this).  We frolic through the rain as though it does not exist.  Sadly, we do not have your stereotypical first-year campers with their bright ponchos and giant walking sticks that drag helplessly behind them.  We just keep on going through the rain – it will be a perfect blue sky in a matter of minutes anyway, just like the weather on the Pocono Plateau.   I am yet to find any swamps that I can go on a 2 mile hike in muck over my head, but I still have a lot of island to explore…

Pacific Ocean - Yap, FSM

Stillwater Lake - Camp Minsi - Pocono Summit, PA

“Sing her glories, live her ideals, hold her memories dear.  Give a cheer that all may hear it. 

 Hail, all hail Minsi.” 

  -Camp Minsi Alma Mater