Potluck or Bring a plate

According to uncle Wiki, a potluck is a gathering of people where each person or group of people contributes a dish of food to be shared among the group.

 

The word pot-luck appears in 16th century England, in the work of Thomas Nashe, and was there used to mean "food provided for an unexpected or uninvited guest, the luck of the pot". The sense "communal meal, where guests bring their own food", appears to have originated in the late 19th century or early 20th century US, particularly in the Western United States, either by influence from potlatch or possibly by extension of traditional sense of "luck of the pot".

You can read further explanation about Potluck here

The term potluck is quite common in Indonesia and sometimes we have potluck dinner at a friend's house. Potluck makes the host's life easier because the host doesn't have to cook the whole dishes for everyone. 

In Australia there is a common expression called "Bring a plate". When you got an invite with note bring a plate doesn't mean that the host doesn't have enough plate hence they want you to bring a plate from home. 

Bring a plate means to bring a dish of food to share with your host and other guests. Take the food to the party in any type of dish, not just a plate, and it is usually ready to serve. This is common for communal gatherings such as for school, work or a club. If you are unsure what to bring, you can ask the host.

You can find more common Australian expressions here

Hike to Pahn Tikai

We went on a hike to Pahn Tikai last Sunday. This hike considers as easy-moderate and not a long hike too so that is one of the reasons we did it. The hike only took 1 hour, plus time to climb around the bat cave and/or watherfall.

The hike involves a very steep climb along a paved road, once the road ends, we follow the dirt path to a well-maintained jungle path. When the path forks, we follow the upper trail. The jungle portion is relatively short and will end at an eerily dry overhang under the waterfall.

Boat trip to Pakin

We finally out on the boat last Thursday, we went to Pakin atoll to visit one of the projects that the Australian Embassy funded. I was excited and a bit nervous at the same time as that was my first boat trip in Pohnpei and I heard people talking that November and December the wave is really rough hence all the surfers are here at the period of time. That was not my first boat trip, I went on a boat trip from Jakarta to Thousand Islands for work, yeah working in an advertising company can take you to exotic places for work, sometimes I miss those good old days. And my second boat trip was in Manado to Bunaken for diving and snorkling, I snorkled not diving by the way. I didn't recall to have any sea sick but I thought maybe the wave back then not as rough as in Micronesia so I call Heather to get the sea sick tablets just in case.

The schedule was to get in the boat at 8am because the boys want to do some fishing along the way, yes sure why not we're on the boat anyway. We went on the Embassy boat so it should be safe as people were saying that the boat is probably the safest boat in this island, but still, I was nervous.

 The boat "Three years in the making"

There were seven of us on the boat, Beru the driver, mr. husband, Glen from Fishery Commission, and three Pohnpean who were involved with the projects.

At 8.15am off we sail. The view was beautiful as we sail off from Pohnpei.

  Pohnpei from the ocean

Waterfall hike in Madolenihmw, Pahn Sile

This hike labeled as "easy to moderate", and is about a mile in each direction.  The swimming is supposed to be good.

Well, the information is right it was not a hard hike but since the pathway really muddy we have to concentrate and looking down all the time to see if there are any rocks that we can use instead of stepping out feet into the mud. Someone was saying  that eventhough Monalisa passing by we won't notice her as we all so busy looking down lol. So by the time we got home we were really tired, yeah all those concentration really took its toll.

But the view was worth it. It's a beautiful waterfall and there is somekind of wall that you can climb, Sam was trying to climb it up but I guess it is too slippery so he settled just swim. It was a good day for swim especially to get rid off the sweat from walking to the waterfall, so everyone except me and 2 others jumped in and swim. Me happy just to watch and take photos :)

Hike to Sokeh's Ridge (Pohndollap)

There are 2 types of hiking to Sokeh's island, one is a moderate 1.5 hours not include the exploring and one is strenuous. Since we are new to this hiking club so yeah we choose to do the moderate ridge of course :).

Here is what Emily said on the hiking club blog: The ridge is a very convenient hike for people in Kolonia. It's walkable from anywhere in town and offers both a good workout and a good view. You'll walk along a paved road, then along a dirt road, and come to a first scenic overlook. This is a good place to stop if you're looking for a very easy trip, but if you continue up up up you'll have even better views.


Following the steep section after the first overlook, the trail will head to your right, becoming very flat for a while. If you walk straight past a small building instead of following the trail to the right, there are at least two WWII-era guns and bunkers to visit. Following the trail will lead you to a final steep push, at the end of which you'll find a weather station platform and a nice view of Kolonia town and the airport.

Up until the first overlook is an easy hike, and yes the view is amazing. This is what I see:

My First Halloween Party

Since Halloween is not a big thing in Indonesia and Australia so I never went to one, I guess recently people in Jakarta are celebrating Halloween holiday just like in America as I saw some of my friends Halloween photos in facebook.

We were excited to finally experience Halloween holiday in Pohnpei, although it was a bit of challenge to find the costumes that we want. We went to Super Savers on Thursday to look for costume but no luck, so we settle with what we have in our wardrobe.

Me in school girl outfit

Driving in Pohnpei

It's relative easy to drive in Pohnpei, everyone drives really slow and the fastest speed limit is 25miles/hour but people mostly drive 20miles/hour, the school zone speed limit is 15miles/hour with caption if children around, so when there are no children around the school you can actually speed up a little bit. You can tell if the driver has been drinking sakau because one will drive really slow, yes it's like 5miles/hour slow.

But driving in Pohnpei can be really tricky because we drive on the right side of the road like in America, so came from Indonesia and Australia where we drive on the left side of the road it takes a while for me to get used to driving in Pohnpei. But most of the cars here are Japanese cars so it's right hand drive including our car which just arrived yesterday. For me is easier like this because I used to drive a right hand drive car so I just need to get used to with driving on the right side of the road. I just have to remember that when I'm driving my side is on the gutter side not the other way around. But for mr. husband is kinda tricky because he has to drive the office car everyday to go to work which has left hand drive and switch to right hand drive car on personal car, but I thinks he gets the hang of it.

Other thing about driving in Pohnpei is that all cars only have one number plate and mostly they put it at the back of the car, I don't know the real reason for this.