Something more cheerful

On the way into town Ben pointed out a very funny 'site' - the new US Embassy.




Hee hee. this says "Embassy of the United States"

I love how eco friendly it is. Although I wonder how the soldiers could use the metal detector effectively at the entrance.

With official buildings like this, I wonder why signing the Kyoto protocol is such a big deal.
Jo

Homer didn't make it

Sadly, the little puppy died before I got home from work yesterday.

He didn't appear to be in pain, just very weak, and took his last breath in Ben's arms, which I think is a pretty good way to go. I guess he was just too young to be away from his mother.

It's amazing how attached you can get to a little creature in just a few days..... we are both very upset.

A low percentage of puppies make it here, I guess that's just part of life. There are still lots and lots of dogs, but a lot more than that are born.

Puppy

Our downstairs neighbours have a new puppy - called Homer. He is so very very cute! He is allegedly a month old, but he looks much younger than that to me. Apparently, his mother was killed by a car which is why he's been taken away so young.

Unfortunately, although he was full of beans when he first arrived a few days ago, he is now very listless and we are really worried about him. We have fed him, made him a bed, picked off his fleas (and maggots - ew! but I think he just rolled in those!) and had lots of cuddles but he isn't responding. It's breaking our hearts. He just lies around looking sad and this morning we had to feed him with a syringe. There is no vet on the island at the moment.

Does anyone know of anything else we could do? I haven't had a puppy since 1986........










These are the other dogs we live with. They are being very nice to Homer.

This is the appropriately named Brownie.


Amazingly, the black dog is called Blackie. The other one is called Back.

Jo

cool plants

When it pours down, some people use leaves to cover their head, umbrella style. Coming from Canberra, it seems silly, and that using your hands would be just as effective. Not here! Some leaves are enormous! These are also part of the reason why rain sounds so deafeningly loud and falling coconuts/breadfruit sound like the apocolypse.




I am also most impressed by the local coriander (cilantro). Unlike the variety with the long stalks and pretty leaves I'm used to, this hardy little plant has no stalks, wide leaves, grows very quickly, survives the tropical rain/sun/chickens and can cut you with it's prickly edges. And it tastes and smells JUST LIKE Australian grown coriander. Amazing!

Potholes

This is a bad photo - I tried to crop and enlarge but I'm not very bright. It says:

Roadwork compliments of
Dial-a-Ditch
Pothole Elimination Program
For Peace of Mind on our Roads
The Universal Peace Foundation

The Universal Peace Foundation are the Moonies- hey, they fix the potholes! For free!

There are quite a few potholes in the roads, none of them are really really bad (with the exception of the giant hole near our place), unlike the state of Chuuk. There is a joke about Chuuk:

"How can you tell the difference between a drunk and sober driver in Chuuk? The sober driver swerves all over the road, the drunk goes in a straght line".

Apparently the potholes make the maximum speed you can go about 5 miles an hour. Which begs the question as to why people drive at all in the small town. But Micronesians LOVE their cars. Don't get me started.

But curiously, in Pohnpei people will overtake around blind corners at speed and let toddlers hang unsupported out car windows but the WILL NOT drive over a pothole - even if the "hole" is less than 2cm deep. The drivers prefer to swerve directly into oncoming traffic than drive over it. I love this place - it's totally crazy to my poor westernised sensilbilities.
Jo

Did you get this on the news in Australia?!!?

Well, we now have a new leadership of the FSM - exciting stuff. Here is the press release, no photos of the key players as yet.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Mori new FSM President

Palikir, POHNPEI (FSM Information Services): May 11, 2007 - Immanuel (Manny) Mori has been selected today as the Seventh President of the Federated States of Micronesia, he is from the State of Chuuk. The FSM's new Vice President is Alik L. Alik from the State of Kosrae.

Selection of the National Government Leadership came during the Opening Session of the new 15th FSM Congress in Palikir. The Leadership of the Legislative Branch is as follows:

Speaker - Isaac V. Figir (Yap)
Vice Speaker - Resio S. Moses (Pohnpei)
Floor Leaders - Joe N. Suka (Chuuk)

The chairmanship of the Congressional committees are:

Judiciary & Governmental Operations - Senator Peter Sitan
Ways & Means - Senator Dohsis Halbert
External Affairs - Senator Paliknoa K. Welly
Resources & Development - Senator Dion G. Neth
Health, Education and Social Affairs - Senator Joseph J. Urusemal
Transportation, Communications & Infrastructure - Senator Moses A. Nelson.
Following the selection of the National Government Leadership, the new Congress went into recess until Tuesday - May 15, 2007.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is the Congress chamber, all dressed up and waiting for the first session of the Fifteenth Congress



In my 'uniform' for the opening session. I couldn't manage to take a full length picture of myself, but I don't think the world is ready for that anyway.



This a mwar mwar - a traditional headband. This one is made of ylang ylang leaves, but they can be made of ylang ylang flowers (my favourite, turns out they are for royalty), other tropical flowers, leaves, plastic and on very rare occasions, as Ben discovered, wool.



We went to a function to celebrate the new session in Friday night, and all guests received mwar mwars. My likeness to the Statue of Liberty was duly noted. Ben scored with a 60's flower power mwar mwar, which will not only last, but get through Australian customs!!



Awww... isn't he cute?!



This is Chip, who is a lawyer at Congress with me, relaxing on our balcony before our dinner party on Saturday night. This picture is for Chips's wife back in America - Hi Tucki!



-Jo

Guess who?

I have had people ask if we could identify who is writing each blog. I'll do that in future. But if you're ever in doubt, here is an easy way to tell. If the entry is well written, engaging, informative and very, very, very long, it's Ben. If the entry is short, all over the place and mostly about food and bad dresses, it's me.
-Jo

Exciting!

I am at work on a public holiday - not something I have ever done since I stopped working as a casual for double time and a half. But it's OK - tomorrow we get a new President! The Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia is convening for its 15th session tomorrow, and the 14 senators-elect meet at 9.30am to decide between them who will be President, Vice-President, Speaker of the Congress, Vice-Speaker and the Floor leader. I work as a staff attorney for Congress, so it's very exciting here at the moment. Hence the work thing.

I'll put up a picture of my new boss (the new Speaker) tomorrow, and the Pres and Vice-Pres. There are many rumours as to who they will be, and I have my suspicions, but nothing is certain....!!

On the shallow side, all the women who work for congress are wearing a uniform tomorrow, which means we all get the same fabric and have to go and get a dress made out of it. I've respected the culture and gone for a slightly more traditional look than I would usually wear..... If I can bring myself to do it, tomorrow I'll post a picture!

Our Pohnpeian Food Experience- An Introduction

The food here is great. Slightly different to our staples in Canberra, but very exotic, as you would expect. In great abundance are coconuts, bananas, limes, starfruit, papaya, taro, cucumbers, breadfruit, fish and crabs. In significantly less abundance are other fruits and vegetables. In no abundance is good cheese and white wine that is not off and bright yellow like Berocca wee, whatever the grape.

If you eat local foods, the low salaries paid here can go a long way. Mangrove crabs are about $3-4 each for medium ones, $6 for whoppers. Fish are $1.30-$1.50 a pound, which roughly equates to $3-4 a kilo. They are caught the same day they are sold, and are delicious. The cheapest dish at restaurants is tuna sashimi, which means I am in heaven. Local food is really cheap, imported is not that cheap to offensively outrageous.

It's all US dollars here... of course now I am earning US dollars and sending money home to pay the mortgage the AUD is over 80c to a $US - when I was travelling and coverting the other way it was 48c. Typical!

Here are some prices to get an idea:
Local
4 local mangoes – 37c (these are very fibrous, not all juicy cheeks like the Australian ones)
1 2kg pumpkin - $1.60
1 banana flower – 25c
20 bananas - 75c (there are so many different varieties of banana here, it's amazing!)
12 small limes – 50c
coconut - 50c

Imported
1 red capsicum $4.82
tomatoes $7/kg
apple - 90c

If you don't cook your own food or eat sashimi, the pounds can pile on very, very quickly. Most dishes are full of lard, and deep frying is the preferred cooking method Chicken, pork, bananas, taro, breadfruit - doesn't matter. Fry the sucker. (see past entry - this nation unfortunately ranks as the second fattest in the world.... changing diets from local foods to imported rice, spam and doughnuts has been very bad. Then add frying everything and the habit of driving everywhere, even 100m down the road, and you've got a completely devastating health disaster).

$6.50 for all you can eat is the standard for lunch here. Sashimi by the truck load, fried stuff by the cargo ship load and some veggies here and there. I'm used to bringing my lunch to work but it's not very sociable. I work at Palikir, the National Government site. It's about 8km from town, and there are no eating establishments there. So you have to drive to buy lunch. I'm not into driving everywhere, but there is little choice. My environmental contribution is to stay here, eat my own lunch and read a book. But I still get lured into town a couple of times a week... I mean, it would be rude not to!

I am not meant to attend all you can eat establishments. Not because I don't get good value from them – on the contrary. Purely because I can put away food like nobody's business. It's quite disgusting. I wonder how long it will be before I switch to the local Muu Muus - bless them, they cover a multitude of sins!

Some restaurants and food... Mmm. I'm getting hungry!

View from the Ocean View Hotel - left picture


Right picture


Yum. Not a cocktail, but pure coconut water! (I know, I've changed)


View from The Village (near our place)


Some entrees at The Village


Local Taro