Sorcha in Micronesia

When you live on an island that is 5 degrees north of the equator this is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean it’s important that you have a plan incase of typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, and fires. During my 8 months on island there have been 3 tsunami alerts, flooding, and extremely high tides that damaged properties. Luckily no one was hurt during these events but it goes to show how important it is to prepare for natural disasters. Recently I have been working with a counterpart from my school to update the school’s natural disaster preparedness plan. The previous plan was out of date and did not have protocols such as rosters and evacuation maps. The plan was also in English, which is a big problem as, statewide; students do not begin to learn English until the 3rd grade. The first thing we wanted to do was to create a roster that each teacher would have in their classroom. This roster would have a list of students in their grade sorted by grade level. As the schools records had...

Me and my fellow PCV Devon getting ready to attend church   It took me a while to get used to Sundays on Kosrae as there is a whole list of things that one can and cannot do. As far as I know there are only two things that are illegal to do on Sundays the first is drinking alcohol or being drunk, and the second is fishing or harvesting marine life. Both of these laws are taken very seriously to the extent that during communion (which I’ve been told only happens four times a year for the Kosraen Congregational Church) they drink Kool-Aid instead of wine. People caught by the police drinking on Sundays will find themselves spending a few hours in jail. There are also things that are heavily frowned upon such as: exercise, playing games, swimming in the ocean, cooking outside during daylight, crafting, loud noises, and working.   You are, however, allowed to swim in rivers and in my host family that is used as a special treat for birthdays that fall on Sundays.  Most ...

Tuwo (Good Morning) and welcome to my blog, Snorkeling around the Blue Hole I have spent the past 4 months serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia. One of my two New Year’s resolutions this year is to keep an updated blog on my experiences as an English Co-teacher/Co-planner and Peace Corps Volunteer in Kosrae.   My other resolution is to read at least 1 book each week. I’m going to first provide some background information about Kosrae and then I’ll tell you a bit about my time on Kosrae. Kosrae (pronounced KOSH-RYE) is a small, 42 square mile island, in Micronesia. There are about 6,000 people living on the island. The main language that is spoken here is Kosraen although due to English being taught at 3 rd grade up most adults can speak English. The main religion on Kosrae is Kosrae Congregational. Kosrae is split up into four districts Tafunsak, Lelu, Malem, and Utwe. Walung is a remote area of the island that is more or less o...