About a month ago, my boss asked if I had anything scheduled for the week of August 12. The answer was no and I somehow got included in presenting a a conference in Pohnpei, one of the Federated Sates of Micronesia. I got scheduled to do two presentations- one on language and communication and one on the importance of play.
Then I was told that I couldn't wear pants or dresses above my knee. Oh joy. It was a great excuse to buy some new clothes--maxi dresses and skirts! And then...wait listed for the flight that leaves the day after the conference. Not knowing what to expect, I dreaded having to spend TWO weekends in a place I've never been to before.
Fast forward to last Friday. We boarded the 737 that made its first stop in Chuuk, another state in the FSM. The next stop was Pohnpei. Once the door opened, I was hit with a blas too hot air. H.O.T. Went through immigration and customs. Two ladies from the FSM special education office met us at the airport.
We drove to our hotel. After checking in, we went downstairs for some lunch. Oh so yummy crab and cheese sandwich with crinkle cut fries and a tall lass of iced tea. We then headed down to the special education office where we had a meeting to finalize the conference agenda. The Friday before the conference and the agenda was still in draft form.
My boss and I walked around the high school track for about 30 minutes before meeting another colleague for dinner at another hotel. The meal my boss aged another wasn't available so I need up with some very salty teriyaki chicken...and those crinkle cut French fries.
We woke up before 8 on Saturday morning. And then the power went out. I got dressed in workout clothes to head to the SPED office. We started stuffing binders with supplies and within 10 minutes of doing that, I lost all my makeup.
We headed to the riverside restaurant for lunch, which thankfully had generator power and free wifi. I had a acon cheeseburger and...you guessed it, crinkle cut fries. There's a pattern here. We picked up on of the education ladies and headed to the women's fair. Not many things to do and see but it was nice to see some local stuff. We dropped off our friend at her son's house by the capital and headed back to the hotel.
It's hard to imagine being able to fall asleep in the heat with no power, but it happened. Woke up rejuvenated and headed back to the office. Thank goodness the power finalky came back on. We did some more work and headed back to our hotel for dinner. We were joined by our colleague and one of the guest speakers who flew in for the conference.
Dinner was amazing. Tuna stuffed with mangrove crab. It was delicious! I could eat that over and over!
This morning began at 8:30am. We got ready and headed to Mass. We were 15 minutes late. We thought we were early since we were told Mass started at 10. The whole Mass was in Pohnpeian. The pastor gave the congregation a lecture about answering louder and praying in general and had a lecture for the choir for plaing one song too loudly.
We headed back to Joy hotel for brunch. Only they ran out of pancake mix. But had the meal my boss raved about before. So I had that. It was breaded tuna with rice and sashimi. Afterwards, we drove around and visited some local shops. We headed back to the office at 3.
Lo and behold...the handouts that needed to be put into the infers were not all printed. I slowly began to realize that life moves slower here than at home. We didn't leave there until 8 pm. Dinner was a quick one back at our hotel...crab and cheese sandwich with fries part deux.
My pictures are on my iPhone and my 7D and the Internet works intermittently. So those will get uploaded when I get home.
Gotta do some work before heading to bed.
