The Chugach "roll call" starts at 7:30 am Tuesday thru Saturday. Nearly 90 guys, 6 or 7 of them Americans sit around an open air sheltered workshop waiting for Claude to call their name. Claude is Marshallese. It starts out with "Billy" who is an American. There are 3 or 4 of them (Billy's), one Phillipino, one American, and two Marshallese. My name gets called after Claude switches to the second sheet, I'm the first on the second sheet. He calls my name, but always answers for me, unless I don't wear my neon orange high vis shirt. If I wear any other shirt, it seems, I have to say "ho".
The roll call doesn't really exemplify the name thing. If one were to sit around and listen to Claude call the names, it doesn't do it justice. You just can't hear him well enough, or maybe its just me...
Jurajar....tall thinner young guy with hair trimmed to about a half inch, except his tail mostly at the top of the back of his head. I hear he's an exceptional basketball player, and very strong
Yoda....yes Yoda. very early twenties, one inch long hair that sort of juts out in the front at the bangs, at bit tall for the Marshallese around 5'8"
Tiny.....older, around 48, doesn't drink or smoke, and has an obsession with fishing, mainly casting a net. His last name is Bobo. Yes Tiny Bobo. He's by far the most impressively humorous one I've worked with. He is cleanly awesomely funny. He calls my knife a cereal box knife because that's how you get one of those knives on Ebeye.....
Wagner. ...last name Ned. He has a great great weezy laugh and has no problem letting it go. The stupidest things get all of them laughing, but he opts in regardless ...stupid...really stupid...funny...it doesn't matter...this guy loves to laugh
Billabong....younger kid....he calls me "fart man" after I had the fart machine going for a while. 2-01-18 correction - his name is Billy Pound, it just sounds like Billabong when Claude calls his name. Great kid, leads all the singing at company parties.
Junior...Ebeye is full of them. 3 of them are in our roll call.
Batlock Batlock....so the last name is shared by many, as many last names are on Ebeye. It just goes against our norms for the most part to have two last names.
Bugbwich Batlock....I wonder if I'm spelling it right. Every time I say it, they say it back to me exactly the way I thought I said it "Boogevitch"...but apparently not. It's an old Marshallese name they tell me. Great forklift operator and funny guy
Swingly....shorter guy around 5'2" and kind of wiry. His family lives on Carlos, one of the outer islands that the US is renting and has some equipment. I'm not sure if that's his first name or last...either way I don't know the one I'm missing.
Kakaro....22 years old maybe. Very intelligent kid, and a great operator of equipment. He works for San Juan....He has a really great personality too.. Last name is Kaitonga. His father John, also a great guy, is from the Gilbert Islands.
Chum Gum....that's James' last name as best as I can spell it. He's older and smart as hell. He's probably more ornery than smart, but it's a tight competition....The first thing he says to me when I walk into his ....area....is "what da f*** you want?" with that accent. While that sounds kind of harsh, its meant totally to be funny....most days I answer him using the same language of trying to work the f bomb in as much as possible for every sentence. This can continue for 5 minutes, while everyone around him dies laughing. It may not be that funny, but Marshallese laugh easier than we do.
Bruce Lee.....this guys sticks around the shop tirelessly cleaning and sweeping. 2-1-18 Correction his name is Anthony, which is boring.
Tibich....45 years old missing many teeth, great guy.
Matson....not sure who he is, but I imagine he is named after the shipping container company. I like to think the Marshallese mothers walk around while trying to think of a name, and just see things sometimes and say "that would be a nice name for a boy, Matson" while looking at a shipping container.
In the U.S. kids would be tirelessly tormented having some of these names. Maybe because I was never around for these names and these guys while in school, they don't do that. They don't pick on each other at all.
I mean, at the softball games, when a Marshallese guy whiffs it with the bat, they all laugh, but the guy who did the whiffing is laughing just as hard. The joke is not on him, its a moment that is just funny, just like it should be.
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Kilep Ching...12-5-17 Yes I am 12
"Kilep Ching"....It's been mentioned in here before. Marshallese for "big fart". "Kilep" is big, so "ching" must be fart. However, after belching in front of the Marshallese workers, they referred to it as "ching". Maybe it just refers to gas leaving the body.
I try very hard not to talk in the first person. I think its the mark of a good writer, or so I've convinced myself. I cannot finish this post without overusing the letter "I", however I will try.
So the Marshallese workers at San Juan taught me the two words "Kilep Ching" after one of them stunk up a room in building 602 that SJ construction had the contract for. It was all as bad and as funny as you would think. It appears, while our cultures are very different in many ways, we share the same societal norms regarding farting. It's not done in public, unless at a construction site or a confined space where only your workmates can truly (read: not) appreciate it.
So I had Amazon send me a "fart machine". The "reviews" on Amazon mostly gave it a great rating. "Realistic mostly" would sum up the reviews. One has to consider the technological differences between the people living in such a remote place and people in the States. The Marshallese are not stupid at all, but not quite up to date with many things. The fart machine is one of them.
It works off a matchbook size remote control button. The speaker is about the size of a pack of cigarettes and a half. Small enough to fit in the bottom pocket of my cargo work shorts. It puts off about four different fart sounds. Some long, some interrupted, some short....
I gave it to Liz the first day. Liz has the arduous task of trying to make old people look and feel good by cutting their hair at the salon on island. Donna is her compadre, also trying desperately hard to shape dead cells on old peoples scalps so they may feel better about themselves while walking around other old people. Sometimes they shape younger peoples livelier dead cells.
So Liz had Donna going all day long. She had the little speaker hid in a towel or her bag or something that kind of muffled it, but where she was able to keep it close enough to ensure people thought it was her "kilep ching". Apparently, it produces a good enough, realistic and varied version of a fart to have fooled Donna for 8 hours. She actually had one customer offended, which she heard about later from another victim.
It got used during our "after frisbee" campfire time, where we all sit around a light covered with one of the red cones that mark the field for the game. It gives a nice red glow like a campfire, while we relish in our endorphins and alchohol. Liz had the remote, and the speaker in her bag next to her sealed up. The first time she let it go, Aaron's eyes made a quick scan of the group as if asking "umm did anyone hear that?" . She let it lose a few more times and apologized for the Lentil bean dinners she's been eating. It was funny how uncomfortable the guys were for her. She let it go enough that one of the guys let loose and "bbbwwwwwaaaaap". I guess Peter felt comfortable enough. We let the "cat out of the bag" after the second time Peter saw fit to let some methane go. The guys, except for Peter, seemed a bit relieved.
So we see one of the security cars on island pull up a hundred yards away and stop. The guy walks up and says he was wondering about the strange red light and what was going on. He sees all of us and the beers and figured it out. Liz pushed the button. The security guy says...."Well, I guess I'll get going now" and heads off as we all die laughing at how uncomfortable it made thim.
So Tiny and I, are working on a new strange project we got handed. We're tasked with painting the inside of the boom sections from a 185 foot lift. There's six of them, around 45 feet long and around 18 inches square. They are basically 18 inch square tubes of very thick steel painted on the outside, but bare metal on the inside. Raw steel doesn't last long out here so we got the job of painting the inside of these things. We had a lot of fun with the sound travelling thru to the guy on the other side. You could try and talk to the guy on the other end of the boom, outside of the boom and he couldn't hear you unless you were yelling. On the inside however, the square channel carried your voice just fine to the other side 45 feet away. Just talking lightly into the thing saying "DAN is your momma" would get good laughs from the other side.
The fart machine was perfect for this. It was just Tiny and I, Wagner had called in sick. I kept pushing the button on the speaker in my pocket everytime Tiny's head got near the end of the boom. We were pulling a cinder block with sand paper on it with ropes tied to it.....thru the thing back and forth a bit to sand the inside of it.
"That's Horrible" and "what is wrong with you?" and "it's 9:30, break time, time for you to take a shit". I had him going for 4 hours. He is laughing a little this whole time. He explained to me at some point that "we (Marshallese) don't do that in public". Of course he's still smiling as he objects to it, just as we do in 'Murka. I keep saying "sorry I had a lot of beans recently for dinner". Finally, right before lunch he's got his head in the other end of the boom and he's working on the rope on the block and he says "this is the worst day of my life...."
I had to tell him. Best $11 I ever spent
I try very hard not to talk in the first person. I think its the mark of a good writer, or so I've convinced myself. I cannot finish this post without overusing the letter "I", however I will try.
So the Marshallese workers at San Juan taught me the two words "Kilep Ching" after one of them stunk up a room in building 602 that SJ construction had the contract for. It was all as bad and as funny as you would think. It appears, while our cultures are very different in many ways, we share the same societal norms regarding farting. It's not done in public, unless at a construction site or a confined space where only your workmates can truly (read: not) appreciate it.
So I had Amazon send me a "fart machine". The "reviews" on Amazon mostly gave it a great rating. "Realistic mostly" would sum up the reviews. One has to consider the technological differences between the people living in such a remote place and people in the States. The Marshallese are not stupid at all, but not quite up to date with many things. The fart machine is one of them.
It works off a matchbook size remote control button. The speaker is about the size of a pack of cigarettes and a half. Small enough to fit in the bottom pocket of my cargo work shorts. It puts off about four different fart sounds. Some long, some interrupted, some short....
I gave it to Liz the first day. Liz has the arduous task of trying to make old people look and feel good by cutting their hair at the salon on island. Donna is her compadre, also trying desperately hard to shape dead cells on old peoples scalps so they may feel better about themselves while walking around other old people. Sometimes they shape younger peoples livelier dead cells.
So Liz had Donna going all day long. She had the little speaker hid in a towel or her bag or something that kind of muffled it, but where she was able to keep it close enough to ensure people thought it was her "kilep ching". Apparently, it produces a good enough, realistic and varied version of a fart to have fooled Donna for 8 hours. She actually had one customer offended, which she heard about later from another victim.
It got used during our "after frisbee" campfire time, where we all sit around a light covered with one of the red cones that mark the field for the game. It gives a nice red glow like a campfire, while we relish in our endorphins and alchohol. Liz had the remote, and the speaker in her bag next to her sealed up. The first time she let it go, Aaron's eyes made a quick scan of the group as if asking "umm did anyone hear that?" . She let it lose a few more times and apologized for the Lentil bean dinners she's been eating. It was funny how uncomfortable the guys were for her. She let it go enough that one of the guys let loose and "bbbwwwwwaaaaap". I guess Peter felt comfortable enough. We let the "cat out of the bag" after the second time Peter saw fit to let some methane go. The guys, except for Peter, seemed a bit relieved.
So we see one of the security cars on island pull up a hundred yards away and stop. The guy walks up and says he was wondering about the strange red light and what was going on. He sees all of us and the beers and figured it out. Liz pushed the button. The security guy says...."Well, I guess I'll get going now" and heads off as we all die laughing at how uncomfortable it made thim.
So Tiny and I, are working on a new strange project we got handed. We're tasked with painting the inside of the boom sections from a 185 foot lift. There's six of them, around 45 feet long and around 18 inches square. They are basically 18 inch square tubes of very thick steel painted on the outside, but bare metal on the inside. Raw steel doesn't last long out here so we got the job of painting the inside of these things. We had a lot of fun with the sound travelling thru to the guy on the other side. You could try and talk to the guy on the other end of the boom, outside of the boom and he couldn't hear you unless you were yelling. On the inside however, the square channel carried your voice just fine to the other side 45 feet away. Just talking lightly into the thing saying "DAN is your momma" would get good laughs from the other side.
The fart machine was perfect for this. It was just Tiny and I, Wagner had called in sick. I kept pushing the button on the speaker in my pocket everytime Tiny's head got near the end of the boom. We were pulling a cinder block with sand paper on it with ropes tied to it.....thru the thing back and forth a bit to sand the inside of it.
"That's Horrible" and "what is wrong with you?" and "it's 9:30, break time, time for you to take a shit". I had him going for 4 hours. He is laughing a little this whole time. He explained to me at some point that "we (Marshallese) don't do that in public". Of course he's still smiling as he objects to it, just as we do in 'Murka. I keep saying "sorry I had a lot of beans recently for dinner". Finally, right before lunch he's got his head in the other end of the boom and he's working on the rope on the block and he says "this is the worst day of my life...."
I had to tell him. Best $11 I ever spent
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Nov 1, 2017....the "Reverse Halloween"
14 of us loaded with backpacks full of around 20lbs of candy, loaded the ferry to Ebeye at 4:45pm. Amber wanted to redo last years "reverse Halloween". Last year it might have been 7 of us. We all slightly dressed up in costumes or had some sort of face paint on. She named it "Reverse Halloween" because instead of the kids coming to us, in short, we came to them. It's explained somewhere in this blog from last year that the "command" here on Kwaj.....read ...the powers that be.....only allow so many Marshallese kids/families to come to Kwaj on this day to join the kids here going house to government owned house to collect candy.
Jobe, and Amber decided that was bullshit because it is mainly the more "privileged" kids on Ebeye that get to come to Kwaj and collect a child's dream: tons of candy. The Landowners usually pull rank. So they suggested we load up and go there and fulfill the American "holiday" tradition on the children of Ebeye.
There is a key part of the beauty out here that many Americans working here will never see. It's warm, the skies are gorgeous, the sunsets spectacular, the water is insanely gorgeous, and the under water is the second most beautiful thing out here. The first and most beautiful thing out here is the Marshallese people. I would guess 80% of the "rebelle" here will never realize that. That percentage is probably higher, but I'm trying to be positive.
We definitely, could all take lessons from them. I've seen them being yelled at by some (insert all the negative words) American guy, new to the island or sometimes not so new. They listen with eyes locked on the guy, then the guy walks away and they turn and smile and laugh. It's amazingly awesome. I've worked with them in places that can only be described as ovens in the sun with hordes of flies. They work at their own pace despite my stupidity. As I worked steadily, taking no breaks to set useless "examples", they lay down in the shade and sigh, then say something in Marshallese to the others and crack up laughing. They "waste" more energy laughing then they would have if they just stayed working. They disappear, as I follow my role of (read stupid rebelle) supervisor and continue to pick stuff up or work in any way in the 90 degree sun, 80% humidity, with no wind, surrounded by trees on a sparsely inhabited island, covered with 50 flies. The flies don't bite but they love my sweat, and don't seem to care if its filtered thru the long sleeve shirt or pants or buff that I wear.
After a bit, I walk toward the lagoon, where the wind is coming from, and find 3 or 4 of them lying in the shade on the beach or in trees with a beautiful cooling breeze that eluded me just 50 feet away.
So this is mainly about a ten or so day period where we were sent to an island 13 miles away to do some "cleaning up" of the stuff the Americans had put on the island.
We would board an LCM (landing craft mechanized)(a floating steel bathtub that had a drop down door in the front where we loaded equipment and such), in the morning. Then throw out the "handlines" as we left the harbor, and chill for 50 minutes. It was a great ride. The work was miserable, in fact as miserable as I've had since being here. I volunteered to work the weekend. I didn't have to work, but looking at the situation, where a guy from Ohio would get to head out on a boat with these great fun Marshallese guys to a slightly inhabited island in the middle of the south pacific.........
So the first day of the weekend, Sunday, it was raining when we got on the boat. I'm not sure why we got on the boat with such heavy rain and wind, but it was up to the supervisor of the heavy equipment. James Chum Gum should be Marshallese, he's been in the Marshalls long enough. He's Gilbertese, a string of atolls maybe 400 miles south of Kwaj. He's been around long enough that the Marshallese all respect and love him. He has a white old man ponytail, dark island skin, and the features of these island people. His speech is sort of hard to understand, but he's funny and incredibly smart.
So we do the handline dragging behind the boat in the rain for 50 or so minutes all the way to our destination. After arriving, as the captain lowers the LCM ramp onto the concrete ramp on the island in the rain, I walk down off the stern platform that is covered from the rain to grab the box of "meals" the cafeteria boxed up for us for lunch that was sitting on the deck of the lcm. Venturing out into the heavy rain was something the Marshallese don't normally do. After returning with their lunches in the box, there was no one there. All my guys left the boat. Strange, they hate the rain, but they did have rain coats mostly. So as I sat there under the tarp draped over the stern of the LSM, waiting for them to return, Tenaka, the captain, said something to me. I don't recall what i thought he said, but I nodded in agreement.
The LCM pulls away with my guys onshore, where I knew they wouldn't work, and in the pouring rain we went "bottom fishing". I wrote "we" but it was Tenaka and his first mate throwing out baited hooks about 300 yards offshore of the island in heavy rain and high winds. We drifted fast, they caught maybe six grouper and a few other fish that weren't in my kwaj fish vocabulary.
The powers that be nearly cancelled the ferry from Ebeye that day, something they have done on one day since my arrival on Kwaj 3 years ago, due to the heavy west winds. So our LCM captain Tenaka almost cancelled the day too. The waters were rough, south pass was rough. The captain of the largest boat on Kwaj said he wouldn't want to be on our boat going thru south pass. It wasn't that bad.
I'll try and add some pictures ...
Jobe, and Amber decided that was bullshit because it is mainly the more "privileged" kids on Ebeye that get to come to Kwaj and collect a child's dream: tons of candy. The Landowners usually pull rank. So they suggested we load up and go there and fulfill the American "holiday" tradition on the children of Ebeye.
There is a key part of the beauty out here that many Americans working here will never see. It's warm, the skies are gorgeous, the sunsets spectacular, the water is insanely gorgeous, and the under water is the second most beautiful thing out here. The first and most beautiful thing out here is the Marshallese people. I would guess 80% of the "rebelle" here will never realize that. That percentage is probably higher, but I'm trying to be positive.
We definitely, could all take lessons from them. I've seen them being yelled at by some (insert all the negative words) American guy, new to the island or sometimes not so new. They listen with eyes locked on the guy, then the guy walks away and they turn and smile and laugh. It's amazingly awesome. I've worked with them in places that can only be described as ovens in the sun with hordes of flies. They work at their own pace despite my stupidity. As I worked steadily, taking no breaks to set useless "examples", they lay down in the shade and sigh, then say something in Marshallese to the others and crack up laughing. They "waste" more energy laughing then they would have if they just stayed working. They disappear, as I follow my role of (read stupid rebelle) supervisor and continue to pick stuff up or work in any way in the 90 degree sun, 80% humidity, with no wind, surrounded by trees on a sparsely inhabited island, covered with 50 flies. The flies don't bite but they love my sweat, and don't seem to care if its filtered thru the long sleeve shirt or pants or buff that I wear.
After a bit, I walk toward the lagoon, where the wind is coming from, and find 3 or 4 of them lying in the shade on the beach or in trees with a beautiful cooling breeze that eluded me just 50 feet away.
So this is mainly about a ten or so day period where we were sent to an island 13 miles away to do some "cleaning up" of the stuff the Americans had put on the island.
We would board an LCM (landing craft mechanized)(a floating steel bathtub that had a drop down door in the front where we loaded equipment and such), in the morning. Then throw out the "handlines" as we left the harbor, and chill for 50 minutes. It was a great ride. The work was miserable, in fact as miserable as I've had since being here. I volunteered to work the weekend. I didn't have to work, but looking at the situation, where a guy from Ohio would get to head out on a boat with these great fun Marshallese guys to a slightly inhabited island in the middle of the south pacific.........
So the first day of the weekend, Sunday, it was raining when we got on the boat. I'm not sure why we got on the boat with such heavy rain and wind, but it was up to the supervisor of the heavy equipment. James Chum Gum should be Marshallese, he's been in the Marshalls long enough. He's Gilbertese, a string of atolls maybe 400 miles south of Kwaj. He's been around long enough that the Marshallese all respect and love him. He has a white old man ponytail, dark island skin, and the features of these island people. His speech is sort of hard to understand, but he's funny and incredibly smart.
So we do the handline dragging behind the boat in the rain for 50 or so minutes all the way to our destination. After arriving, as the captain lowers the LCM ramp onto the concrete ramp on the island in the rain, I walk down off the stern platform that is covered from the rain to grab the box of "meals" the cafeteria boxed up for us for lunch that was sitting on the deck of the lcm. Venturing out into the heavy rain was something the Marshallese don't normally do. After returning with their lunches in the box, there was no one there. All my guys left the boat. Strange, they hate the rain, but they did have rain coats mostly. So as I sat there under the tarp draped over the stern of the LSM, waiting for them to return, Tenaka, the captain, said something to me. I don't recall what i thought he said, but I nodded in agreement.
The LCM pulls away with my guys onshore, where I knew they wouldn't work, and in the pouring rain we went "bottom fishing". I wrote "we" but it was Tenaka and his first mate throwing out baited hooks about 300 yards offshore of the island in heavy rain and high winds. We drifted fast, they caught maybe six grouper and a few other fish that weren't in my kwaj fish vocabulary.
The powers that be nearly cancelled the ferry from Ebeye that day, something they have done on one day since my arrival on Kwaj 3 years ago, due to the heavy west winds. So our LCM captain Tenaka almost cancelled the day too. The waters were rough, south pass was rough. The captain of the largest boat on Kwaj said he wouldn't want to be on our boat going thru south pass. It wasn't that bad.
I'll try and add some pictures ...
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
the evil is everywhere....
October 17, 2017...or something close to that..
So my new job will be taking me to one of the hundred islands on this atoll tomorrow. Its one of the islands our government rents from the landowners of the Islands. It has some non island looking US government looking stuff on it. The people who actually own the island are probably not on the island. My guess is that they receive enough money that they live somewhere a little more easy. Its kind of a shame, but this is my U.S. thinking, my "rebelle" thoughts. They could use that payment they get for the use of their island from my government to build something there. A resort or something. That is my thoughts. Thoughts passed down from generations of thinking more of everything is better. The ridiculous thoughts that the harder you work the more you are rewarded. The even more ridiculous thoughts that any of it really matters... The Marshallese thoughts are more about telling stories, hanging out and being lazy and spending time with friends and family. Yea....we don't really have life figured out .....
So my new job will be taking me to one of the hundred islands on this atoll tomorrow. Its one of the islands our government rents from the landowners of the Islands. It has some non island looking US government looking stuff on it. The people who actually own the island are probably not on the island. My guess is that they receive enough money that they live somewhere a little more easy. Its kind of a shame, but this is my U.S. thinking, my "rebelle" thoughts. They could use that payment they get for the use of their island from my government to build something there. A resort or something. That is my thoughts. Thoughts passed down from generations of thinking more of everything is better. The ridiculous thoughts that the harder you work the more you are rewarded. The even more ridiculous thoughts that any of it really matters... The Marshallese thoughts are more about telling stories, hanging out and being lazy and spending time with friends and family. Yea....we don't really have life figured out .....
Friday, September 29, 2017
Maybe it could only happen here...but we all wish it would happen ...Sept 30?,2017
So I'm in the store today, rushing right before frisbee. I came in to buy beer for frisbee...well for after frisbee. A case of miller lite warm because there were no can beers cold, and a six pack of some Hawaiin lager cold gets sat up on the counter. Some lady I have seen around, and waved to while on my bike, because, here, you wave to everyone, is in front of me finishing up her transaction and purchase. I don't remember what she bought, but as she was packing up her wallet, and the cash register lady scanned my first item, and I was padding my pockets down for my wallet.....I realized I didn't have my wallet, and immediately told the checkout lady. "Well, nevermind, I forgot my wallet"
So, as only would happen here, the lady, who I've only seen around, says "Oh do you need some money?" and then gives me $40 after seeing how much it was for the $33 worth of beer....I did hesitate at first, then got a big smile on the inside knowing that normally, even on Kwaj, I would reject her offer. This is the way things should be though. People should be going out of there way to be nice to each other..............AND people should accept the awesomeness of THAT gesture, and go out of there way to pay it back.....
So, as only would happen here, the lady, who I've only seen around, says "Oh do you need some money?" and then gives me $40 after seeing how much it was for the $33 worth of beer....I did hesitate at first, then got a big smile on the inside knowing that normally, even on Kwaj, I would reject her offer. This is the way things should be though. People should be going out of there way to be nice to each other..............AND people should accept the awesomeness of THAT gesture, and go out of there way to pay it back.....
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
PohnPei, Micronesia....
Its a stopping point on the way east from Kwajalein, on the United Airlines flight they call the "Island hopper". United flights 154 or 155 depending on the day and direction of the flight, are on a 737, a plane with an aisle in the middle and 3 seats on each side. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays it leaves Honolulu and makes stops on Majuro, Kwajalein, Kosrei, PohnPei, Chuuk, and finally staying on Guam. Going in either direction you can usually "deplane" and go to each islands airport for 30 to 40 minutes or so and have a beer, or some fish jerky on all the islands except Kwajalein. Sometimes they make half the plane leave for a security sweep.
The first time flying east from Kwaj, and going into Pohnpei, the island gave the impression of maybe ten miles in diameter with a barrier reef. This time, as the plane flew by some island with a little tiny runway, I used the runway to estimate the size of the island. Of course this couldn't be Pohnpei, and THAT couldn't be a runway big enough for a plane this size to land on. It looked to me like some private island that someone built a runway on the reef. The plane slowly turned and headed back to that little strip. So it was Pohnpei. Somewhere along the way it was said that Kosrae has the shortest runway possible for a 737, and that the plane often has to "take off" again after touching down too far down the runway to make a safe stop possible. The runway on Pohnpei is not much longer.
Using the runway as a gauge, the island has to be around a hundred miles long. It will be interesting to see how close that guess is, as the island looked about a hundred times the runway in length. Compared to Kwajalein, its a HUGE island, both tall (2800 feet) and in terms of square miles.
Its a newly found world class surfing destination with no real backbone of logistics to support it. This time of year, also, isn't good for big waves either. That all worked on my behalf as I am in no way capable of any "world class" waves, although my level of stupidity would not have stopped me from (read: drowning or getting crushed on a reef) trying.
Its not an easy place to figure out. My lack of world travelling probably hasn't helped. Most speak varying degrees of English. Most people don't walk or ride bikes, cars seem to be the way to go. Its hard to walk around in Kolonia, you get asked for a ride from a "taxi", or maybe just foreigners do. Kolonia, not the capital, but the town, is the only "town" on the island. Most would assume its the "capital" of Pohnpei, but as a cab driver showed me, the "capital" is a set of newly built modern buildings with housing nearby, about 5 miles from the "town" (/Kolonia). The "Capital" reminded me of the whole chick with the bow and arrow movie....asparagus....oh...MockingJay. Anyhow, it was very close to the "College of Micronesia". Maybe a mile away. Strange set up.
The first time flying east from Kwaj, and going into Pohnpei, the island gave the impression of maybe ten miles in diameter with a barrier reef. This time, as the plane flew by some island with a little tiny runway, I used the runway to estimate the size of the island. Of course this couldn't be Pohnpei, and THAT couldn't be a runway big enough for a plane this size to land on. It looked to me like some private island that someone built a runway on the reef. The plane slowly turned and headed back to that little strip. So it was Pohnpei. Somewhere along the way it was said that Kosrae has the shortest runway possible for a 737, and that the plane often has to "take off" again after touching down too far down the runway to make a safe stop possible. The runway on Pohnpei is not much longer.
Using the runway as a gauge, the island has to be around a hundred miles long. It will be interesting to see how close that guess is, as the island looked about a hundred times the runway in length. Compared to Kwajalein, its a HUGE island, both tall (2800 feet) and in terms of square miles.
Its a newly found world class surfing destination with no real backbone of logistics to support it. This time of year, also, isn't good for big waves either. That all worked on my behalf as I am in no way capable of any "world class" waves, although my level of stupidity would not have stopped me from (read: drowning or getting crushed on a reef) trying.
Its not an easy place to figure out. My lack of world travelling probably hasn't helped. Most speak varying degrees of English. Most people don't walk or ride bikes, cars seem to be the way to go. Its hard to walk around in Kolonia, you get asked for a ride from a "taxi", or maybe just foreigners do. Kolonia, not the capital, but the town, is the only "town" on the island. Most would assume its the "capital" of Pohnpei, but as a cab driver showed me, the "capital" is a set of newly built modern buildings with housing nearby, about 5 miles from the "town" (/Kolonia). The "Capital" reminded me of the whole chick with the bow and arrow movie....asparagus....oh...MockingJay. Anyhow, it was very close to the "College of Micronesia". Maybe a mile away. Strange set up.
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A little closer now, it still doesn't look like a quarter of the state of Ohio....but I think it is.
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| The yellow line is a road around the island. The barrier reef is the outermost deal there and you can see the interior lagoons. |
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Now you can barely see the runway at the top of this picture. The runway has to be a mile long, so maybe the island is only 50 miles in diameter.
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Saturday, August 19, 2017
Grateful......8-19-17
I rarely post anything on facebook. I do look at it, way too much and I need to stop. Its full of bad news, or maybe that's just what I look for. Passing by the posts from people who have crossed my path enough in life to become a "facebook friend". Of course many have been in my life since childhood or birth, relatives, cousins, aunts, etc....I look for the bad news from the states and the new "President".
Tonight I posted simply "Never thought I'd be living this life (just being happy and grateful)". Waking up this morning at 5 am on the last day of my employment and deployment with San Juan Construction on Kwajalein, the cleaning began. It's been a very very long time since moving from a place that wasn't mine. Fortunately, along the way, there have been a few rare people who have demonstrated class as tenants, and as just friends borrowing things. Jacob Dehues, a former tenant of mine, left the lease early, and left the place spotless. That was probably twenty years ago, but it left a mark in my head. Then there is Marty Brown, best guy in the world, who borrowed stuff from me occasionally, but always returned it in better shape than when he received it.
It wasn't only those two who motivated the cleaning this morning, they were just the largest influence. Loni, James, or now Myra were left to the task of cleaning the man camp units after guys (mostly) left. Knowing James and Loni was another small part of the motivational cleaning. I wanted to make sure they didn't have to do anything, but let someone move in to my space.
I've never moved out of a place (that wasn't mine) and packed for "vacation" in the same 5 hour period. It was a bit stressful, despite having done what was supposed to be the majority of the work before hand.
POHNPEI. Its in the FSM. The two capitalized words there were two places not in my head, my geographical arena, or my vocabulary until taking the job with San Juan Construction on Kwajalein. Now, sitting in a hotel, on Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.
How the hell could my life be any better!? Yea, there is always better, and there is always worse....but the best imagined life in my head didn't take things here, or where I've been for the past few years.
KUDOS to you life THANK YOU!!
Tonight I posted simply "Never thought I'd be living this life (just being happy and grateful)". Waking up this morning at 5 am on the last day of my employment and deployment with San Juan Construction on Kwajalein, the cleaning began. It's been a very very long time since moving from a place that wasn't mine. Fortunately, along the way, there have been a few rare people who have demonstrated class as tenants, and as just friends borrowing things. Jacob Dehues, a former tenant of mine, left the lease early, and left the place spotless. That was probably twenty years ago, but it left a mark in my head. Then there is Marty Brown, best guy in the world, who borrowed stuff from me occasionally, but always returned it in better shape than when he received it.
It wasn't only those two who motivated the cleaning this morning, they were just the largest influence. Loni, James, or now Myra were left to the task of cleaning the man camp units after guys (mostly) left. Knowing James and Loni was another small part of the motivational cleaning. I wanted to make sure they didn't have to do anything, but let someone move in to my space.
I've never moved out of a place (that wasn't mine) and packed for "vacation" in the same 5 hour period. It was a bit stressful, despite having done what was supposed to be the majority of the work before hand.
POHNPEI. Its in the FSM. The two capitalized words there were two places not in my head, my geographical arena, or my vocabulary until taking the job with San Juan Construction on Kwajalein. Now, sitting in a hotel, on Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.
How the hell could my life be any better!? Yea, there is always better, and there is always worse....but the best imagined life in my head didn't take things here, or where I've been for the past few years.
KUDOS to you life THANK YOU!!
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