Playing in the Jungle and the Sea

Greetings from Kosrae! Many sunny days and sweet breezes out here. Here's another blog post to share bits of the island and what I've been up to over the past few weeks.

Mount Oma hike + tunnels + local lunch
On Sunday we went for a hike! Turns out hiking in the jungle is a whole different escapade than in a New England forest. We turned down a dirt road that felt a lot longer than it actually was because there were so many potholes! At the end of the road was Emmilson’s house with banana trees, breadfruit trees, and taro all around. The hike began from his yard. He also offered us a local lunch when we returned. The jungle was full of lush green vegetation! And Japanese tunnels oooo. The view of the island and ocean from the top was fantastic. Super gorgeous! Feisty sun but refreshing coconuts and a cool breeze. An interesting aspect of the view from the top was seeing pockets of coconut trees which signify an area where people live. Hiking down could more appropriately be described as mud sliding and watching out for all the sneaky little vines along the ground. We took Emmilson and his wife up on lunch, and came back to coconuts, Kosraean soup, breadfruit (some for dipping in the soup, and also breadfruit chips), and a sweet delicacy called Ign Pot Oosh (as in iron pot oosh. Oosh means banana) of pounded bananas, coconuts, and soft taro. Delicious. It was also my birthday and Emmilson’s wife gifted me an elonglong crown. There are few flowers that smell better!


Chloe's going in the tunnel

WWII remnants

from Mt. Oma

good snacks

bananas on bananas on bananas

post hike lunch with Matt, Chloe, and James. So tasty!

Notes from 1/24
On a daily coconut/banana smoothie kick. Delicious every morning!
Surfing Monday evening and Tuesday dawn patrol! Monday I caught my first proper wave—in the right spot at the right time yay!
Monster beater and 130 screens came on the ship—we went to Okat (the marina) to pick up the big crate from New Zealand. Maiden ride for the purple truck!
about to paddle out for a morning surf

surfing with the sunrise is always sweet


got the goodies


Monitor lizard in office + wild dogs
Bradda’s claimed his title as the office dog. Sometimes he wants to stay even when no one is in the office, so when that happens we leave the door open for him. But one day he came out, the door was still open, and a good-sized monitor lizard went in! A few exciting moments of wild dogs and eventually the lizard got away. But no! It was still in the office hiding in a corner behind some shelves from the wrath of two wired dogs. Somehow the lizard sped past the dogs and got back outside safely. A little office excitement!


Life at Green Banana
As for Green Banana Paper, there are loads of factory improvements going on right now so they are just about ready to kick up their production game. Matt is going to be attending a few big trade shows coming up, and I’ve been doing a bit of prep work for that. I also wrote a couple more blog posts among other various projects.


Weather notes straight from my notebook January 15:
Strong E tradewinds à banana trees not very healthy
Lots of short squalls
Thunderstorms
High tide w/full or new moon à very little or no beach
I sweat a lot less than when I first came à adapting
Crazy sky full of stars
It’s raining and sunny right now


Gulicks
Hey Camp folks—get this. I was reading a book about the rise of the Church in Kosrae and read that the first missionaries arrived here in 1852. They were Hawaiian missionaries on the “Micronesia Mission” and continued on to other islands in the region. Included in the group of ten people on the sailing ship Caroline were Luther, Louisa, and John Gulick. They were supported by the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society. On Hawaii more Gulick family included Rev. Peter Gulick and his wife Fanny. How many families of Hawaiian missionaries can there be with the name Gulick…?!


A few other things—

Last weekend I was back on the boat to Walung with some local friends… on a small boat with a 15 horsepower engine and a darkening sky. But we had a ukulele!

James teaches at the high school and I went with him one day to experience a day of high school here. I also found the gymnasium and public library.

Matt welded a trailer a couple months ago and has been welding recently to fix the fiber extractor. Intrigued, I watched through a safety shield so I could see the welding in action. I proceeded to watch some YouTube videos, then suited up in the sweatpants and long sleeve shirt and practiced the very basics.

school day begins
history class watching a video

the gym

the library! (there are more books that aren't out)

quite the collection of National Geographic magazines

More photos:
mushrooms growing at the base of banana trees

coconuts trying to grow, but they will fuel the boiling station in the factory

Matt's store

this morning!

I am preparing to venture off to Australia to visit more cousins! This place has certainly been a superb home. Kulo ma lulap Kosrae!

Thanks for reading! Many thanks to you all for inspiring me to write these blogs. Stay tuned :)

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