One of my favorite books as a child was The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, a book about a family that piles in their rainbow-colored station wagon to visit their relatives. Once they get there there's lots of hugging, eating, and fixing broken things until the relatives leave a few weeks later.
My summer has been a Micronesian version of The Relatives Came. I count my blessings every day that so many people I love would travel over 5,500 miles just to see me. The visitors started with my brother flying in for a week before traveling on to spend the summer in Tokyo, Japan. He came during the last of my 2 weeks of vacation before summer school started, so we had the chance to visit my host family, hike, see some waterfalls, hang out with my second years before they left, and experience island living. It can be hard at times to put this experience into words, via skype or via blog writing. There are so many nuanced elements of culture, teaching abroad, and living abroad that can only be experienced in that place. Now, my brother knows what I'm talking about when I say I went to Kitti over the weekend to visit my host family. He really understands what I mean when I tell him that the only thing I did on a Saturday was read and walk to get shave ice because it was too oppressively hot to do anything else. He understands, in ways that he wouldn't be able to had he not set foot on Micronesian soil himself.
Alex, thanks for making it all the way over here to visit me. Thank you for treating me to good company and good food and being willing to do whatever I had planned for the day. You're the best, bro.
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| Our uniforms for church. We got so many compliments! |
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| At Nan Madol |
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| Myvy and I on one of the Nan Madol bridges |
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| The view of Sokehs Rock right outside church. |
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| The view from Cupid's Restaurant |
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