Yapese is Fun...showing off some tenses
Ahh, another week on the island, another week of training complete, and guess what? It’s Halloween! Now, had I not looked at the date on my watch I would have in no way known it was Halloween. It’s HOT! The stores are not decorated with pumpkins and witches and ghosts, there are no costume shops, and no bags of black and orange treats for sale, no plastic pumpkins, or glow in the dark skeletons to hang from the ceiling. No… Halloween here in Yap consists of me opening the card I got from my cousin Sabina that said “Do not open until October 31st” and spending another day of training trying to learn how to say “Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat” in Yapese. I wonder what they would think of me then if I actually said such a thing on the bus to someone. I might get kicked out of the village for that one.I’m sure you’re all wondering what in the world the title of this blog entry meant, so I’ll share… I’ve got ringworms. Well… at least that’s what everyone thinks who has seen the lovely quarter sized circular red mark that has been on my stomach for the past three weeks. So, I looked up in my handy dandy medical handbook what to do when one has ringworms, and it looks as if I’ll be using “Anti fungal cream” for the next 3 or 4 weeks, luckily for me the Peace Corps medical officers knew that such a thing may happen so I had just the thing I needed to treat it in my massive black medical kit that I was given in Pohnpei to help me take care of myself while I’m out here on my little island. I know you’re all so excited to hear about fungus… but at least ringworms are actually fungus, not really a weird worm crawling around in me. Gotta look on the bright side of things! And I can’t really expect to move to a tropical island in a developing nation and not contract at least one interesting illness while I’m here. I think it comes with the package. They say you can get ringworms from water, dampness, and cats… all of which I couldn’t avoid if I tried… So maybe it was my mudbath falls or maybe the cute kitty in the pictures or all the puddles I walk through on a daily basis, but whatever it was… I just hope it goes away before my fantastic Swear-In ceremony dance, because there won’t be anything to hide behind while wearing only my local hibiscus skirt and nunus (flower leis).
LOOK....ringworms...you cant really see so well with the picture
Speaking of skirts, I’ve spent my evenings this week preparing my practice grass skirt. Lots of fun. First I used a knife tied to a long bamboo pole to cut down banana leaves, then I sat and patiently tried to shred about 35 of them, one at a time without breaking the leaves. It’s a lot harder than it sounds, and I’m not nearly as fast as the local women, so it took me forever, but they’ve been shredded and soon my family will tie them together for my skirt. Grass skirts here are really thick and heavy, so you need to wear them when you practice dancing to get used to the feeling, so the one I’m working on is strictly for dance practice. Besides the bamboo dance that I’ll be performing for my swearing in ceremony in three weeks, I’m also joining the Women’s Sitting Dance at my church. The dance was made by my host grandmother or great-grandmother, and it’s very important for me as a family member to dance and represent the family. I’m both honored and excited to be given the chance to join these women in a traditional dance, so soon after moving here to Gagil.Working on my grass skirt, whew this is tough
See...this is how it's done
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