Tropical Island X-Mas with Waterfalls and the most creative Christmas Story

The Christmas holidays have been very different to what one knows from home.

It started off with the MicSem Christmas Party, a nice gathering with the entire crew at a restaurant directly on the waterfront. We even were dancing a bit and I tried to learn some southsea-hips-moves from my Chuukese work colleage Elke. (need to add these photos later)

The 24^th I spent with Manuel and his family. Manuel has German parents but grew up in Chuuk, he speaks perfect Chuukese and has just finished a hyper interesting dissertation about Micronesian adoption concepts with Jürg, my professor in Heidelberg. His wife Mihamm is Korean, but speaks perfect German as she lived for 10years in Hamm. What a nice incident, as I received then a call from my family, which all gathered – you guessed it – in Hamm!

Manuel and Mihamm have three super-sweet kids and it was nice to have a quiet evening in this welcoming round. When reading the Christmas Story altogether I almost felt a bit of the silent Christmas athmosphere, the only time in all December. Because when I attended the Christmas Service of the Lutheran Church I was more than surprised.

It had been announced that the youth group will show a play. I expected something similar to my home church in Sonnenberg, the all-famous, ever-the-same Christmas play, in which my brothers and myself have been covering as kids over the years all characters from sheep to wise astrologists, angels and even Maria… :-)

Well, what I saw there was a professional Musical. It was not only the fact that there is a complete Rock Band playing Gospel songs on a real stage with a concert-like athmosphere. A detective-couple in trench-coats was trying to find the future big land-marquee (traditional aristocracy title), meeting the big men from different villages in Pohnpei until finding in Kolonia a child born in a cook-house, wrapped in a lavalava (traditional skirt). They used super-cool youth language, included video sequences taken for outside parts and inbetween the scenes the band played pop-style Gospels, accompanied by a 45 people choir. The total duration of the play was also more like a musical: 90 minutes – less might be considered peanuts, eh?!

I was extremely astonished. This is quite far away from quiet Christmas Charols, "silent night" and Churchbells ringing to accompany you home… But the children were having so much fun while playing and you could see their faces glowing from the joy they had when singing.

The other holidays of this long weekend I spent with barbecues and hikes.

Pantiak waterfall

Sokehs Ridge

This featured not only some impressive views over Kolonia airport and village, but also some old Japanese war machinery. I think I never felt war equipment so massively misplaced like here...

Nan Madol, Venice of the Pacific and Nahlap Island

I had the luck to accompany three American volunteers who are based in Kosrae and came over for some holiday to Nan Madol, the mysterious ruins in the south east of Pohnpei. They are thought to be built in the 12-16^th century and are spread over partially artificially built islands on the coast line of Pohnpei. The primary purpose is thought to be spiritual – for manifestation of power. The remaining parts are made of black Basalt-stone. We drove a good hour towards the closest village, paid 5 USD to the landowners and went on in a hike through the jungle. To reach the actual city we had to walk through a shallow creek towards the main island. I was impressed by the size of the remains and the atmosphere. We were the only ones there; it was completely silent apart from the sounds of the waves breaking on the out reef. Nan Madol is spread over numerous islands which are divided by shallow creeks, which is why it's called "Venice of the Pacific". I was impressed and definitely would like to spend some more time at this place.
here's some more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Madol

Nahlap island is another highlight Pohnpei has to offer. It is a small island which is operated as a Resort. Well, not that type of posh resort you find in glossy leaflets. It's more a backpacker place; the huts don't have water or electricity and the common bathroom/shower place is slightly run down. But essentially all one needs is there. It's simple, but great. And prices are unbeatable: 7 USD per person includes the pick-up per boat, island entry fee and a little hut for the day. To stay overnight costs just 3 USD more. The place is spectacular, like a typical island dream, with some sandy beaches, hammocks between coconut palms and some terrific snorkeling sites. Comparing this to PNG I believe this is the big advantage FSM has: due to the less critical safety situation it can offer such low-cost dream place.

I had a great day out there with the girls and was proud not to be too sunburned after that day

First days in Pohnpei – exploring the setting

After having spent the first ten days here in Kolonia getting oriented with my work I had this weekend a chance to explore the area a bit more.

The weekend schedule gets some more entries and I meet increasingly more people. On Saturday afternoon I went with Jhun, a lovely Philippino guy, his brother Rea and their friends to a beautiful swimming spot just 10 minutes outside of Kolonia. It's a well-maintained place with some cute huts that can be rented for a few dollars from the landowners. Of course we had to try my new underwater cam, but on that day the sea was not too clear. Anyway, great fun!

In the evening the catholic church community had their yearly belltower-christmas-celebration. From the old German church the belltower is the only remaining part and it was illuminated beautifully. I had for the first time this year a slight glimpse of a Christmas Feeling, when "silent night" was sung by all people in different languages. Ah, and guess, who did the German part…

A contrast to the surreal European Christmas athmosphere were the performances of the different Island state communities: Chuukese, Yapese and Pohnpeians. They had put on some local dresses and some of them made a traditional type of dance. Please note the Santa-Claus and the illuminated background - very nice fusion!

On Sunday morning I went to church and met at 1pm two of the Jesuit volunteers for a hike. We took a cab to the meeting point of the expat hiking group and I was surprised how many people came around to take part in this. We were a group of about 15 people, all American expats. In general the "western" expat community is mostly American, the few Europeans are German and hardly Latinos, few Australians. Asians have a big Philippino community and as well as Chinese, some Japanese. I am surprised how different the American-dominated community feels in contrast to the Australian expat community in PNG. You can bet that my English accent now will be changing rapidly from the Ozzie-style to US...

Anyway – the hike was great – we got some young guides to show us the way up to the mountain top. It was an easy, slightly steep hike through the jungle with some breathtaking views when we reached the top. It's fascinating that one finds old Japanese war equipment there. Our guides certainly liked it!

This morning I accompanied two of the MicSem staff to Palikir, the capital of FSM and we did some Photo research in the Information office of the President. The national government complex is relatively new and all centered in a compound-like area... really liked the president's parking lot.