Canine Catastrophe

This morning, as usual, I rode my bicycle to the causeway and went running, then rode my bike home. My house is in a valley, so the final bit of my bike ride is down a steep, curving hill. This morning, Yum Yum, who likes to hang out at the bottom of that hill, ran out right in front of my speeding bicycle. I went right over the handle-bars and onto the pavement. My right hand is all mashed up, both knees are skinned, I have scrapes on my forehead and cheek and my sunglasses got smashed. Rohaizad cleaned me up a bit and then we went to Genesis to get the pavement cleaned out of my wounds. They patched me up and gave me antibiotics. I got stitches in my right pinky (it looked pretty scary!).

Yum Yum amazingly came out of it just fine. She spent the morning in the nahs wagging her tail as usual. Curse her!!!

Behind me is the National Campus of the College of Micronesia.  

This picture shows how the wind comes off the ocean into my living room. Rarely do those curtains lay down. 

A caribou pulling a make-shift cart. 

Today's theme is: Random Pictures. When you drive out of the Pohnpei International Airport, one of the first things you see is this sign hanging over the road. Quite welcoming. 

I really like this picture of me and TC. 

This is me in the Nahs on Nahlap Resort Island, preparing to snorkel. I wear the nerdy hooded referee t-shirt while I snorkel to keep the sun off of me. And you can see that I am about to slather myself with sunscreen, too. What is the word for "fear of the sun"? 

Jonathan took this picture when we were on Nahlap. I am such a wimp; I don't even sit on the sand like a real person would do. By the way, I'm reading the book "Snow" by Orhan Pamuk - very good. 

Some unfortunate fish at the Public Market 

Living with the Non-undead

My house is not haunted. On the contrary: instead of housing the undead, it is filled with the living who (like the undead have the reputation for) enjoy making themselves heard in the night.

Our dear dog Wanda, in addition to becoming a huge kleptomaniac, has now taken to barking at crabs at night. Barking at crabs at night is a full-time job and she is rising to the occasion.

We have a tin roof on our house, below which is our wooden ceiling. The coconut rats like to run around on the ceiling at night. The sound of their running feet is so close over my head in bed, that I'm afraid they're going to scrape a hole in the ceiling and fall on me.

Our patio was built around a coconut tree, a classy touch. But in the past year-and-a-half, the tree has grown and is now pushing against the roof, making it groan all night long.

The wind blowing off the ocean whistles through the cracks in the house quite loudly - along with the coconut tree groaning in the roof, this gives the aura of living in a haunted house.

I have grown accustomed to all these sounds and they don't keep me awake anymore, well, except for Wanda's barking; THAT still wakes me up.

When all the sounds die down, I hear the waves breaking on the shore. I see the moon and starlight reflecting off the clouds and sprinkling shadows from the palm trees across the front yard. This is a great place.

Monday evening, after work, we tooks the three dogs (TC, Tubbs and Wanda) for a hike up Sokehs Ridge. While we were hiking, we saw this ship come into port. Also, we noticed a new shipwreck in Sokehs Harbor. It was too far away to take a photo of, but my running pal, Pat, says he saw it sink while he was eating lunch on Monday at South Park Restaurant. 

It loOkS liKe TC wEnt a litTLe cOoCoO wheN hE sAw ThE oLd JapAneSE gUNs FroM wOrlD WaR tWo oN sOKehS ridGe. 

Wanda, TC and I ducking under the old Japanese guns on Sokehs Ridge. 

Me and Wanda in front of the WW2 Japanese guns. 

Rohaizad made this soup after we got back home. 

My Superstar Existence

Last Friday, April 7 was our third "First Friday Lunchtime Concert Series" concert. With the help of the wonderful performers (Patty Kelly, Susan Kihling (on flute), Kimie Minami, Mihoshi Uneda and myself) we put together my favorite concert so far. Here is what we performed...

"Sans Souci Polka" by Johann Strauss, Jr. (piano duet)
"Scherzando" by Georg Philipp Telemann (flute & piano)
"Galaxy Train" by Saori Iwauchi (piano duet)
"Polonaise in B-flat Major by Ludwig von Beethoven (flute & piano)
"Berceuse" from the Dolly Suite by Gabriel Fauré (piano duet)
Themes from "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi (flute & piano)
"Polonaise Militaire" by Frederik Chopin (piano duet)

May 5 is going to the last concert in the series for this school year.

On Saturday afternoon I played the piano for a wedding at the Catholic Church in Kolonia. It turned out to be a big wedding (a Nagasoni marrying a Neth). Standing as a witness were Betwin and Merleen, the couple who live in my family's old house in Toto, Guam! What a coincidence.

Sunday we spent the day at Nahlap Island Resort (Rohaizad, Jen, Janhabi, Helen and Jonathan). It was a perfect day: snorkeling, eating too much, floating in the ocean with a beer ... life doesn't get better than Nahlap. Unfortunately I forgot to put the memory card into my camera, so I didn't get any photos. I think Jonathan took some, so I'll post them if they turn out.

Today I've posted a few shots of signs around Pohnpei. This first sign is a mystery to us all. This vacant building has been sitting here for a few years and suddenly one day this sign appeared in front of it. The Japanese apparently are in charge, but where they expect to get students from has me baffled. 

What a grand entrance to the nation's capital. 

I really want to call that phone number and ask them what I should do if I've contracted ETC. By the way, have you ever heard of a "noisy epidemic"? 

Doesn't that apostrophe add a touch of class to an otherwise ordinary construction site? 

This little store is down in Madolenihmw. When I stopped there, Apu was not working. 

Target on Pohnpei is your one-stop store for scratched and illegally burned DVD's...and more! 

Just because I live on a tiny Pacific island doesn't mean I can't shop at Best Buy. Doesn't the sign just inspire confidence? 

There is a Wall Mart on Pohnpei! Not to be confused with Walmart. 

Art or Graffiti?

Kris and Rachel hosted a Rock Painting Party in their back yard on Friday afternoon, since we had the day off for Pohnpei Cultural Day. I've posted pictures of the party below.

But before you look at them, I would like to mention that I participated in a 5k race on Saturday morning and shaved 35 seconds off my time! I finished in 22:27.

The pondering artist before creating. 

I began by painting a star on this rock, but it was too uncomfortable, so I moved on. Me suffer for my art? Never! 

The artist with his work. 

Note the use of a "found object" in my painting.