Sitting With Chiefs

Another week in the rollercoaster that is my life now in Yap. It's up and down, up and down.... yaaaayyyyy... and then... ahhhhhhh... as I go swooping downward, only to find myself trucking back up minutes later. So is life.
Village life certainly is different from the routine of training. In training I was busy from morning untill 6pm when I went home.... now I'm still busy, but it's a very different kind of busy. Now my days are filled with writing lessons, planning things for the library, researching book donations, keeping calm when teachers fail to show up or even call, painting, gutting fish, learning Yapese dance, and of course sitting with chiefs.

Now it isn't everyday that you sit with a chief, but it happens quite a bit for me. And when a chief says sit... you sit. So, the other day I was walking back from the place where I do my laundry, a 10 minute walk, with a giant bag of freshly dry clothing across my shoulder when I noticed an old man sitting in front of the road that leads to my home, facing the driveway, in the middle of the road. Interesting? (Did I mention it was 7pm, and in minutes would be completely dark) So, one of the men in the village said "V, do you have time.... please sit." So there I sat in the middle of the road and met the eldest man in the village... our village elder and the High Chief of a neighboring municipality. He didn't speak any English, but another man was there to translate what I couldn't understand. The men in my village had just had a meeting where they discussed my presence in the village and how they had to keep me safe and secure... punishment "beheading....joked one of the men"... actually the punishment if some of the young men in the village bother me is Stone Money, Shell Money, and possible banishment from the village, Wow! So, our elder, this tiny old High Chief sat in the road (slightly intoxicated) asking me how I felt here, if I wanted to help... and repeating "Siro...Siro... Siro... " over and over... which means "excuse me or apologies" Did I mention cars drive down this road?... where we three were all sitting in the middle of... in the dark! But, like I said... when chiefs say sit... you sit.. and that's just what I did. I sat, talked, and pondered about all the things my village must think about this young American living up the dirt hill in their village. Just another day in the village

I'm getting better at village work now also, cleaning, gardening, cooking. I know when Americans hear those three words certain images pop into your head.

*Cleaning... Mrs. Clean with her mop and shining floor, dusting shelves....
*Gardening... Kneeling in a 10 by 10 patch of tomatoes and flowers, wearing a big hat and gardening gloves, pulling weeds...
*Cooking... Preheating the oven for garlic bread, going to the refrigerator to get veggies and butter... boiling water for pasta.. sauteeing onions.... or if you're in a rush.. just pop leftovers in the microwave... all in your kitchen, bright and full of appliances...

Now do me a favor... WIPE AWAY EVERY PRECONCIEVED IDEA ABOUT WHAT THOSE THREE WORDS MEAN IN AMERICA... in Yap... they are VERY different.

CLEANING IN YAP... First things first... get out your machete. Cleaning here involves machetes.. Last weekend I worked from morning until evening cleaning a taro patch... knee deep in mud, cutting (or trying to cut) overgrowth in an abandoned taro patch that the jungle had reclaimed. I came home, dirty, covered in mud, sweaty, and sore... kinda makes me wish for that Mr. Clean image with a mop

Back from the Taro Cleaning
GARDENING IN YAP.... SEE ABOVE

COOKING IN YAP.. Well, without stoves, ovens, microwaves, toasters, and all the other little conveniences of modern kitchens, cooking can be quite interesting. Steps to making a Yapese meal.

Step 1: Use coconut husks to build a fire in the kitchen house
Step 2: Scrub the mud off the taro or yam, then using large knives to cut the outside of the taro off
Step 3: Clean the fish (Yes that means descaling and gutting.. I know dad would be proud)
Step 4: Go to the garden/jungle to gather greens
Step 5: Husk, cut open, and grate one copra (mature coconut)... squeeze with water with your hands to make coconut milk
Step 6: Combine the fish, coconut milk, and greens for a yummy soup.. while the taro boils.
Step 7: Relax..... it's hard work....
Step 8: finally eat and enjoy

My favorite time of day these days involves the time I spend working on the library at school. I've got a ton of work to be done, but things are beginning to happen. I've been writing everyone and every place I can think of to find books. I have managed to clean out most of the junk that was being stored in the library, and we've started repainting all the book shelves. Over the holidays I'll start recatologing what we have and dusting the books and donating so many of the books that are no use for my english language learners.... Some rotary club in California thought it would be a great idea to ship the elementary school cases of Very Old, Falling Apart, Adult novels from the 30s through 50s...

If you were a little kid learning to speak english... would these books look appealing? I think not!The kids helping me repaint the book shelves.. they want a library so bad!
The Library/Storage Space here at school