Smiling in my new grass skirt
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After finishing graduate school and living in Mississippi, Australia, Canada, and New Hampshire, I decided to join the Peace Corps and move to another country for 27 months. This blog is to document the journey across the world to the small island countries of the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau where I will be serving as a Peace Corps volunteer from Sept 10 2008- November 2010.
Disclaimer
The opinions and views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone. They in no way reflect the opinions and views of the Peace Corps, nor do they reflect the opinions and views of the U.S. government.
I know that I may be writing about sensitive issues like culture and development. If there is anything I write that you feel to be offensive or incorrect, please bring this to my attention. This blog is in no way meant to offend anyone (especially the people who have so kindly welcomed me into their country and community), it is only a way for me to share my personal experiences with anyone who is interested.
I know that I may be writing about sensitive issues like culture and development. If there is anything I write that you feel to be offensive or incorrect, please bring this to my attention. This blog is in no way meant to offend anyone (especially the people who have so kindly welcomed me into their country and community), it is only a way for me to share my personal experiences with anyone who is interested.
Blog Archive
About Me
Websites for more information on FSM and Palau
Verina's PC Book List
- "Born On a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant" by Daniel Tammet
- "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
- "30 Days in the South Pacific: True Stories of Escape to Paradise" Ed. by Sean O'Reilly (Short Stories of life and travel in Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia..even one called "Yap Magic")
- "A Girl Named Zippy" by Haven Zimmel (Memoir of a girl growing up in a small town)
- "Letters to a Young Teacher" by Jonathon Kozol (Letters written to a first year teacher in an inner-city school on the joy and trial of teaching)
- "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls (A memoir about the difficult times growing up in a family with excentric parents that moved around alot)
- "The Time Traveler's Wife" By Audrey Niffenegger (A story of love that lasts throughout time and time travel)
- "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" By Barbara Kingsolver (One families quest to live off only local foods for one year)
- "The Witch of Portobello" By Paulo Coelho (neat story written about how different people viewed a powerful woman)
- "Three Cups of Tea" By Greg Morteson (How one man promotes peace through building schools in Pakistan)
- "Those Who Save Us" By Jenna Blum (The story of what some women did to survive WW2 germany)
- "Getting Stoned With Savages" By Maarten Troost (Funny story about life in the South Pacific)
8 comments:
hi! my name's amy and i just stumbled on your blog. i was just nominated for primary teacher training, pacific, leaving september 09. your pictures are great! how has your experience been so far?
Wow, great blog.
I was wondering, what is the cost of living in Yap?
Is it expensive because of imports?
Thanks for any info!
Nathan
Yas is surprisingly really expensive. Everything needs to be imported, so the prices go way up. Local wages are incredibly low, so most have to depend at least partially on gardening taro and fishing. They build using local materials often and work with what they have to survive despite the cost of imported goods
Thank you for the photos, was just too bad she felt the need to put a black bar across some of the picture in order not to offend others. If she had left the pictures uncensored her readers could see that it was not a big deal.
The reason for the censoring is because I'm a school teacher in the U.S. and this is a public site. I was proud to dance in Yap, but for my professional life as a teacher, some things just need to be covered.
Good for you! My wife & I hope to visit Yap next year for our 25th wedding anniversary. Largely for the diving, but also to visit a place that still protects its culture as they seem to. Understand about the self-censoring as well ( I am a former teacher myself), but too bad it's necessary. Maybe folks will grow up someday. Best of luck in your work!
Rusty
I appreciate your blacking things out in the photo, especially in your professional life as a teacher. I have noticed many visitors to Micronesia posting photos and videos online, and, while your dress is culturally appropriate in the Yapese/Micronesian context, it is not necessarily so outside of it. With the internet, it is important to keep our Micronesian girls and women safe from the eyes of creepy internet lurkers.
Mogethin,
Just wondering if you ever came back to Micronesia after your volunteer years. How was your experience in Yap? The people, the culture...etc
Gamagar with love from Micronesia!!
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