Sorcha in Micronesia

Picture of the setup of the celebration One of my favorite things about Peace Corps is the cultural exchange that occurs. A lot of time when you visit a new place it is hard to get involved in the culture and customs of the place. However, on March 11th this was not the case, as I was able to celebrate International Women’s Day with the women in my community. Groups of women from each part of Tafunsak (Yatta, Muntente, Tafunsak Srisrik, and Walung came together to celebrate the women in our community. The day started out with an opening prayer and speakers. Between the speakers groups from each part of Tafunsak sang a song. I performed the song with the women in my area of Tafunsak.       Basket weaving competition After the songs and the thanking of Donors were finished the Keynote Speaker talked (in Kosraean) about the women in their community and how they need to work together and support each other. She talked about the importance of graduating high scho...

Here are a few funny stories that I have heard about foreigners visiting Kosrae and the cultural misunderstandings that followed. Kut When the first missionaries visited Kosrae the locals greeted them with fresh coconuts. The missionaries were thirsty and said “good, good” when they saw the coconuts. The locals went about their business and show up a few minuets later with a bowl of head lice for the missionaries to eat. The missionaries were very shocked by this. It turns out that the Kosraen word for head lice is “Kut” pronounced like “Gud” and they thought that the missionaries were asking to eat head lice. Fuk A few decades ago an official from Guam was visiting Kosrae. A woman on Kosrae had heard that people from Guam liked to eat Fruit Bats and she captured some bats to try to sell to him for money. The woman knocks on the door of the hotel room where the official is staying. The official opens the door and sees the woman holding two bats and is a little confused. The woman s...