Fun fact of the day.... the way to say good morning in Pohnpeian is Menseng Mwau. I was so happy to learn this yesterday, and excited to use it. But foreigners beware, if you pronounce it Mensing Mau... you are actually saying "Farting Fish" As I get ready to move with my host family tommorow, I can only imagine the looks on their faces as I wake up, get breakfast, and tell them "Farting Fish"..... oh my this language learning can be complicated. Luckily I was forewarned about farting fish, and I will hopefully figure out how to say Good Morning. That being said, I'm sure there will be many times that I say the wrong thing, and many times that the locals will laugh at my attempts to speak their language. I guess this is something I should prepare for, being laughed at untill I figure things out. Good thing I know how to laugh at myself also, because lets face it, it's pretty funny waking up by telling someone "Hello...Farting Fish"
In less then an hour we leave for Madelenhmw and I will meet my host family. I'm nervous and excited. This is going to be emotional, exciting, hard, fun, trying, scary, and out of this world all at once. I won't be updating this for the next two weeks at least because I'll be nowhere near internet or phone, but I will be writing on my computer so that once I do get internet again I can share my experiences at my first host family. I'll be writing tons of letters though, so it will be great to resurrect the lost art form of real letter writing.
Exciting news... in one and a half weeks I'll know my permanent site... Where shall I end up.. main island... outer island... Yap... Kosrae... Chuuk... Pohnpei.... Palau?? Only time will tell, so exciting, so exciting. Can't wait to update!
Just a short note to Steve... I love you! I just have to go into the wild for a bit, but I'll be back in contact soon.
A note to friends and family, if you could please start saving those silica gel packs that you get when you buy new products like shoes etc. in the boxes, I would appreciate it. I'm going to put them in my dry sacks with my electronics to keep the moisture and humidity from killing my stuff. So you can send them to me later at my site.
Well.. goodbye for a while... i now go... "Into Madelenhmw" Wish me luck!
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6 comments:
Verina.
This may seem strange but I am an RPCV from Palau. I was feeling nostalgic and googling PCVs in Palau (pathetic I know...but wait til you're in my shoes).
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me...as it would be therapeutic for me. Say "hello" to Reside for me too. Jullian Lee (wuptboi@hotmail.com)
haha farting fish...nice..well you better leard how to pronounce that one cerrectly! Oh and I'll try to remember to keep those little gell thingies too lol :D
Renae
Yahoo Verina!! Everything sounds so exciting! Hope you had a good time with your first host family- can't wait to hear about it. It sounds like you are actually getting the hang of the language - do they speak any english? Sign language is good!! Lots of prayers- love you- Sabina & Jim
Hey Cuz! Awesome to see your blog. All th Best
Oliver
hope you are having a very yappy day LOVE YOU :)
Thanks for reading Everyone! :) Miss ya all, and glad you enjoy
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