Sorcha in Micronesia

So I decided not to do week two or week three of the Blogging Abroad 10 week challenge because week two was about my daily life and week three was talking about my home. I’ve talked about week two’s challenge already, see this link , and I decided not to do week three because I didn’t want to post my host family’s house all over the internet. Instead I’m going to write about some conversation’s I’ve had with people. 13 y/o host brother: Tulpe, did you pray before eating? Me: No, I’m not religious. 13 y/o host brother: So you are Catholic. Me: No, I am not religious. 13 y/o host brother: So you are Muslim. Me: Nope (What followed was a long conversation about different beliefs and religions). 8 y/o Host brother: Tulpe you’re a troublemaker. Me: Why? 8 y/o Host brother: Because of your glasses Me: Are you a trouble maker? 8 y/o Host brother: No I’m pretty 8 y/o Host brother: Tulpe You’re not pretty Me: Uhh Okay… Why? 8 y/o Host brother: Because you eyeglasses 8 y/o...

Since I’ve been a bit behind on my blogging game recently I decided to join Blogging Abroad’s 10 week challenge. The prompt for the first week is “Your Why”. When I was a little girl I struggled a lot in school. Around the age of 7 I was diagnosed with dyslexia. I was one of the fortunate students. I had access to a great system of special education teachers and resources. From the age of 7 until 18 I had at least two sessions a week with a special education teacher to help me work around my learning disability. I was also very fortunate to attend typing lessons that were designed to help children with dyslexia and/or dyspraxia thrive in this modern world. However, not many students are as lucky as I was. All too often students with disabilities are never informed of their rights to accommodations required for schooling and standardized tests. A Kids As Self Advocates survey found that only 20% of [American] students with disabilities were informed that they had access to accommodation...

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...

A small how to guide on making coconut oil for beauty purposes  Step 1: Gather 5 copra coconuts Step 2: Husk the coconuts Step 3: Open the coconuts Step 4: Grate the meat out of the coconuts – most people use electric graters but many still do it by hand  Step 5: Make coconut milk – See this blog post Step 6: Filter coconut milk Step 7: Boil coconut milk Step 8: Once boiled add flowers for sent Step 9: Allow it to cool Step 10: Filter to separate solid and liquid  Step 11: Enjoy