Matching Outfits that Barely Fit

My training in Tonoas has now come to a close and I am officially about to begin my Peace Corps service after the last couple months of intensive training. At this point, the seven of us Chuuk trainees will be sent off to our respective islands and truly begin our Peace Corps experience. So far we haven’t had to deal with loneliness, lack of English, lack of fun, or lack of structure because we have had each other to depend on. But all of that is soon to change.

Training has given us time to become ridiculously close and establish bonds that will surely last a lifetime. The type of person that is attracted to do the Peace Corps is a unique breed. We are all adventurous, all think outside the box, can all deal with hardships, and are all a little bit crazy. These commonalities unite us together and we share the difficulties of our experiences together in order to cope with the troubling adaptations that we are all going through. Nonetheless, allthough we all share certain core characteristics we are an extremely diverse group of individuals. We all have varying interests and vastly different personalities. Julie is the stereotypical All-American girl, Becky is a hyperactive go-getter, Farrah is a tough fearless woman, Naavid is a mysterious badass, Paul is a friendly New Yorker and Ben is an adventurous musician. Together we cover all the spectrums of young Americans and provide a complete package to bring to Chuuk.

Before we shipped out to our remote islands in the vast stretches of ocean around us we thought that it would be appropriate to have a party to send us off in style. Fortunately, our last weekend coincided with the birthdays of Julie and another volunteer Kirby, so we had a legitimate excuse to have a little shindig. We came into the main island of Weno and rented a few hotel rooms at the shnazzy Blue Lagoon Resort. Blue Lagoon is reminiscent of Hawaiian resorts with quaint wooden rooms lining a small peninsula on the tip of Weno. It is most definitely the nicest place on Weno and we thought it necessary to take a break of sleeping on the floor and eating taro to come in and take advantage of some western amenities. Since we are now all living in Chuuk, we got the local rate at the hotel and only paid half the price. We also thought it was a good occasion to celebrate Halloween, since we missed the festivities back in the states. We all pulled together some sloppy costumes and made it a tropical Halloween birthday celebration. We used lots of local materials and got pretty creative with inventing some island costumes. So needless to say, we partied amply and had a roaring good time.

The following Wednesday was our swear-in date. We had been anticipating this event for quite some time and it filled us with a mixture of pride and anxiety for the significance of becoming official volunteers. It is a Chuukese Peace Corps tradition to wear matching outfits for the swearing in ceremony. The girls had purchased fabric in Weno and our parents had sewn shirts and mumus for the occasion. The other day, volunteers were talking with my mom about making the shirts and discussing the different sizes that they needed to be. Everybody laughed incessantly when my host mother said that my shirt needed to be bigger than the rest because I am “husky”. Now it’s a running joke through our group that I am “my mamas husky boy”. In actuality, there is some truth to this. I have gotten much bigger. I am force fed multiple gigantic meals every day that usually consist of the fattest, saltiest, greasiest and most sugary food that you can imagine. Chuukese love fat and try to integrate it into every facet of their diet. Eating pure chunks of pig fat and slurping the oil out of tuna cans are common practice. Sugar is also mounded upon everything edible. Sugar water is preferred over pure water, and a standard cup of coffee has at least 3 or 4 rounded tablespoons of sugar poured into it. Hmm, no wonder Micronesia is one of the leading diabetic countries in the world. Bottom line is that I am gaining a significant amount of weight. I cant even button my pants anymore! Yes, I walk around everyday with my top button open and just the belt holding my pants up. This presents a serious problem because I only brought a couple pair of pants and they are all the same. My family is extremely proud of this fact and brag to other community members that their Peace Corps volunteer gets the best food. It is a sign of wealth and attractiveness in Micronesia to be fat, so I guess I’m on my way to further integrating into the culture. I will have to sacrifice my six pack and my health, but at least I will look like a respected Micronesian.

. Our swearing in ceremony was a big deal for the small island community. After intensive urging by our community members, the festivities changed location and were slated to be in our little village of Nukuno. The whole village prepared food and decorated a community center for our ceremony. They even cancelled school for the day. The Peace Corps Country Director of Micronesia, Kevin Carley was in charge of administering our swearing in. The Lt. Governor of Chuuk, Mayor of Tonoas, and all other important village members were also in attendance. Our families were all beaming with pride and were elated to see their host daughters and sons “graduating” as they called it. We all lined up in our black and purple flowered costumes and underwent our swearing in. We affirmed our commitment to the US and swore, “to defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.” I felt like a soldier, haha. After the oath was taken, we each gave a speech in Chuukese and thanked all of the people who helped us through the last couple of months. We went through the rest of the formalities and then officially became Peace Corps volunteers. That night we feasted for hours and enjoyed our last moments with the families and each other.

Now the real experience starts……