Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Some of the volunteers and myself celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday at a restaurant by our office, which served a giant buffet, complete with two turkeys, mashed potatoes and gravy, a pig, and desserts galore. Jake (VA native, serving on Romanum), Michael (OH native, serving on Ta), Suzi (OH native serving on Kuttu), and I went around and told what we were thankful for on this most delicious of holidays. Family, new friends, a great volunteer community, faith, High Tide Restaurant for providing the meal, the weather, and sharing this experience of a lifetime.

Here are some more things that I am thankful for, especially today.

1. Telephones, which allowed me to call home and talk to my extended family and find out first-hand how the Lions are destroying Michigan.
2. Rain, which comes with cooling wind, and replenishes our source of running water.
3. The internet and email, which apart from keeping me in touch with my best friends, has enabled a number of neat conversational opportunities with Kristin (PCV Benin) and the author of Scratch Beginnings.
4. My brother and this new-fangled ukulele; without Ben's know-how, I'd still be tuning it in front of the computer...
5. You, for reading this, thinking about me, and offering support in so many ways.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Alex

Waiting Game...

Well I was sworn-in on November 13th, and the waiting game has been in full-swing ever since. Today starts week 2 of serving as Peace Corps volunteer away from my site. Weno is not terrible (in fact, with the help of the other Volunteers here, it's been kinda fun), but it is not Satawan. Via Gmail chat today, my friend Marc asked whether I felt relaxed. I can't say that it's relaxing being here, but I don't feel stressed either. I feel like I'm in an awkward limbo, waiting for a plane that keeps getting delayed, thinking about packing (but not actually doing so), and just slowly moving about the city.

Things I am enjoying include: the community of volunteers (PCVs, Jesuits, Australians, Japanese), morning walks with Michael & Suzi (M74 PCVs), soft-serve ice cream at Asa store, Dr. Christine @ Sefin clinic and I are on a first-name basis (I electrocuted myself last week by stepping on an open wire in the frayed wire of my fan cord), reading in the hammock when the wind blows, the scenery, and the kids that are everywhere.

Also, I bought rat-poison and I've taken care of that problem. And I am reading books like it's nobody's business. Book I highly recommend: Jeffrey Sachs's Common Wealth. Book I do not recommend: Adam Shepard's Scratch Beginnings. If you read them or have read them, please let me know. I'd love to chat ya up.

Might be getting dive certified in the next week or two... I just got quoted $395.00 to get certified, so if I can't find it cheaper, then I'm skipping on that idea.

All for now...
Peace!

The Ants Go Marching, Two by Two...Hoorah

I realized yesterday how much of a nuisance the ants are here in Chuuk, when I saw them crawling out of my keyboard as I was typing an email to my mom. It has been raining fairly consistently over the past five days, and one night I left my laptop in my bag, the exterior of which was still wet. Apparently, this attracted ants, who decided to make my only connection to the outside world their personal kingd…whoops…another one just scampered out, only to be met by the crushing weight of my fingers.

Needless to say, I have been running several programs at a time trying to smoke them out of the innards of this machine, and its been mostly successful. If I take out the battery and shake the whole computer, more fall out each time. It may just be that I’ll always have a few who missed the eviction notice. Too bad.

This most recent inconvenience represents what has become Alex’s Epic Saga Against the Ants. The Saga started when I first moved in, six weeks ago. When I awoke on the second morning, my arms and legs tingled as the several legs of too many ants marched this way and that all over my body. Jumping from my bed, I could see the trail of ants from the ceiling, down the wall, and onto my bed via a pillow propped up against the wall. In my rage, I grabbed the handyman’s secret weapon, duct tape, and began picking them up ten at a time, until they were no more.

The ants have tried to make homes in my underwear, in my tshirts, in my bag, on my floor, between the pages of my books, and most recently, in the most expensive piece of electronics I own. I have tried duct tape, bug spray, and now heat to kill them. Perhaps you have a suggestion or two, or can send ant traps or ant poison to end this bloody struggle. What the ants lack in forethought, critical analysis, basic attack mechanics, and sophisticated weaponry, they more than make up for in numbers and sheer dumb-headed persistence.

Calling in for reinforcements…
PCV Plum