Good Bye Pohnpei

Our time in Pohnpei has come to an end, how time flies and it has been 2 years since we arrived in the Garden Island of Micronesia or famous for Pohnpei.

It's time to pack our stuff and move on to the next journey, going back to Australia where I called second home. My first home still Indonesia, a place where I was born and grew up until 2009 when I decided to leave everything and follow Mr. Husband to his homeland.

When I married Mr. Husband I knew that my life won't be boring, we can move to anywhere in this globe where his office reside.

Pohnpei is my first posting but fourth postings for Mr. Husband. When I said yes, he can apply for Pohnpei I don't know what to expect, as not much information I can get from google but one thing strike me was the island remind me of my first home, Indonesia, the tropical weather, the green scenery and the people, well Micronesian and Indonesian are quite similar, dark brown skin and brown eyes.

We arrived in 9 September 2010 and yes the island reminds me of my home town (5 hours drive from Jakarta), I saw familiar trees along the road and in the compound.
I see sugar cane, casava, breadfruit, lemongrass, pineapple, coconut, papaya, soursap, banana, tumeric and even jambu or sour apple as Pohnpean called it, the main difference is rice/padi field, I don't see a single of rice field in Pohnpei, in fact there is no rice field anymore in Pohnpei not like in my home town where you will see rice field pretty much everywhere you look.

Last week the removalist have come and packed our stuff, the house is empty now. We live out of settling in kit and 3 suitcases among the 3 of us. The house feels different, mind you the physic still the same but the heart is different. Everywhere I look, I see empty shelves and empty cupboard, it feels weird and cold, it doesn't feel home anymore, it just feels empty.

Trip to Nah Island

Last weekend was our turn to take the boat out, after got confirmation from 3 other couples, we booked Francisco as the boat driver and prepare stuff to bring include food for the picnic and snorkling gear.

We decided to go to Nah island because it's not as far as Ant atoll but it has same sandy beach like Ant which is a rare treat in Pohnpei. Trip to Nah island took about 45 minutes to one hour by our boat because we have to go really slow in some shallow area especially during the low tide. Nah Island located inside the lagoon across from Nan Madol but since we're using big boat so we have to go outside the lagoon to reach it. I'm not too fancy going out the lagoon as the sea can be really choppy and rough, but this time it wasn't too bad and it's not too long so I'm fine.


The view on the way to Nah island

Nan Madol

Go Local: Coconut Jam

I have been living in Pohnpei for 7 months but I haven't found local food that I really like. Some of the local food are similar with Indonesia like: breadfruit, taro, yam, casava, the difference is we don't eat those food as main course but more to snack. Oh maybe in some parts of Indonesia they still eat it as main course but from where I come from we eat it as snack.

Everytime I go to Yoshie for groceries shopping I always see jars of Coconut Jam near the cashier, but the package doesn't look appealing to me, yeah I know it's not easy to make a good packaging that really appealing and scream BUY ME I've been there done that with my previous work as an advertising slave. Until Keira & Sky invited us to have dinner at their place.

The Most Expensive Tomatoes in Pohnpei

That will be our tomato.... if it ever grows eventually.


I went to pick up my gardener last week and he load in bunch of long sticks into the car, I know that he always complained that if I have aa truck it would be easier to get all materials he needed for my garden. But I don't have a truck and the embassy's truck is broken so a truck is out of question.


We need wood sticks to support my tomato which already outgrown and also we need to build the structure for the tomato "house".


I ask him to load all the sticks in and see how it goes, so he put the stick from the back all the way to the front windscreen or windshields. My car is a Toyota RA4 so we have a little bit of room but not as big as a ute/pick up truck. After all loaded in then I try to close the back door, I didn't slam the door just a gentle touch trying to close it but then I hear "CRACK"... I was thinking what the hell was that... and when I see the front windscreen/windshield this is what I see... Not a pleasant sight...

My First Camping Trip

If you find yourself trapped in the middle of the woods without electricity, running water, or a car you would likely describe that situation as a “nightmare” or “a worse case scenario like after plane crash or something.” Some people refer to it as “camping.”

I've never been camping before and the idea of camping no shower never amuse me. Mr. husband has been trying to persuaded me to camping since we were back in Canberra but no luck so far, as I always have good excuses to bail from it. But last weekend I was running out of excuses and also it was his birthday, he wants to celebrate his birthday by camping in Ant atoll. It was a good plan since he got 5 days weekend for Easter and Anzac Day. Yeah among many other things that he can do, he chooses camping. Suck big time for me, no toilet for 2 days, how can I survive?. This time I can't say NO, it's his birthday. As a good wife *cough*... I respect his choice so off we go camping then.

Mr. Husband is doing his best to tell me that it’s very easy and it allows us to escape the pressures and troubles of the urban lifestyle for a more natural, simplified, relaxing time. Nothing could be further from the truth. In theory camping should be a very inexpensive activity since you are literally sleeping on the ground. But  the more simple it appears the more expensive it actually is.


The first stage is to buy a tent and a matress. Our new tent and matress arrived weeks before the day and we even had a trial at home on how to build the tent, yeah he was so determined to educate me about camping and the FUN of it. 

Here is our tent and matress:

Ant Atoll

We went out on the boat last month for a day trip to Ant Atoll, I heard people say that it's a gorgeous place and a must visit atoll if you live in Pohnpei. Ant atoll is about 1.5 to 2 hours trip by boat depends on the sea, if the sea really rough it might be longer than 2 hours and also if you always chase the school for fishing than it will be more than 3 hours for sure.

This time we used the Navy boat called True Blue, it's one of the safest boat in this island, thank God for that. Since I'm the biggest wuss in the world, there is no way I will take the small boat with 1 engine to go to Ant. I was freaking out big time just doing trip from mainland Pohnpei to Nahlap which took only 10-15 minutes by small boat, can you imagine 1.5-2 hours? I will be passed out.

I don't do scuba diving and I don't have any intention to do it anyway, but you can see soo much just from snorkling, so why bother go deep down.

Anyhow... here is Ant atoll captured on my camera, but mind you photos didn't do any justice, the real one even more beautiful...

Kayaking

This is a very late post as we did kayaking couple of weeks ago, but hey better late than never, no?

I can swim but not on the ocean and I will freak out if I can not see the bottom, so when Sam told me that Emanuele & Nora invited us to do kayaking with them on Saturday I was excited but a little bit nervous at the same time. But Sam assured me that I will be fine and the kayak is safe.

So after we pack snack and lunch we head off to Coco Marina to meet Emanuele & Nora and rent the kayaks there. It was a bit windy and rough in Coco Marina so I was a bit scared but luckly I was wearing life jacket, in fact I was the only one who's wearing life jacket! Naughty kids!


Nora helped me get down into my kayak, and indeed it was a bit scary on that small kayak with rough water and high windy, and since it was my first time kayaking so I don't know what to do to make it turn right or left and I was freaking out when the wind and wave took me on the wrong direction but with Sam & Nora direction I managed to make it turn left and join Emanuele who's been on the water too.


Once you got the hang of it, it's pretty easy to do but still a hard work to paddle. And the view from the water is amazing.

Amateur Farmer Wannabe

It's been awhile since I post anything on this blog, I know I have been very slacked but things happened to me for the past 4 months. Good news and then the bad news happened just right after I think I can spread the joy, but anyhow God has other plan for us :)

So to keep me busy and taking my mind of that bad news event, I planned to expand my garden. 

Before I just plant everything on the containers but then I want to have bigger garden so I actually can enjoy the benefit without having to buy vegetables at the shop.

Here is my garden before:

Lights in Pohnpei

This is my first Christmas in Pohnpei and I am impressed with how the shops and some of the houses decorated their splace with lots of lights. 

I have to admit that trips to downtown Kolonia at night time became very joyful, you can feel that the Christmas spirit is here. And I know some parents are using this opportunity to treat their children, yes a trip to down town with full of lights can be amusing even for adult like me.

So, on Thursday I decided to take some photos of the Chirstmas lights downtown, but I choose the wrong date because ACE Hardware & ACE Offices decided to have midnight shopping from 7pm - 12am, hence there were alot of people doing shopping and also some of the shops were doing final SALE too.

One thing for sure that their electricity bill for this month must cost them a fortune with all those lights, but hey it's just one month a year event, so why not?

Btw, I used the wrong lens 50mm so I can not capture the whole ambiance as I have limitation on the focal point.

 Palm Terrrace shop

 Super Savers, second hand clothing shop

Let's do some serious gardening

I have been posted about my veggie garden in Pohnpei,  I was inspired by Huyen's veggie garden at the US residence compound so here is my effort to do more serious gardening.

Oh did I tell you about the bleach effect? Yup, this is what happened with my beans :((

Brocolli and one healthy looking Lettuce

Capsicum

Walk to Nett Point

It was the easiest hike of all, that's why I called it walk not hike :)

It has been pouring rain on Sunday morning but since it's an easy hike/walk to Nett Point a man made beach popular swim destination for locals we decided to give it go anyway.

We were car pooling at PCR hotel and meet the others there before we walk down the street. The road is paved and just a little bit of dirt around the Nett Point it self. It was a good walk with a good length and little bit of hills but no steep at all like our last hike, so I still got the sweat on this walk.

We pretty much just follow the road until we reach Nett Point.

My first harvest

My veggie garden is not the spectacular ones like some of the garden in Pohnpei, after seeing two awesome veggie gardens at the US residence compound I feel ashame about my veggie garden which just contain of  eight pots and two small patch gardens.

But anyhow I just harvest my first beans last week, well it actually force harvest because the trees look dying from the bleach's smell the workers used to clean up the outside part of the house.

not bad from just one tree eh

Just one lettuce looks promising and the rest look sad, it won't grow tall I don't know why. But my brocolli, capsicum, parsley and mint look promising. I try to grow more basil by cut the stem and grow it in different places. And since I got more seeds from Louise so I have decided to be more serious in gardening, I just need to get more pots or maybe even utilize available patches and spots around the house.


Wish me luck.

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

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.

Hike to Liduduhniap Twin Waterfalls

We join hiking club in Pohnpei so every Sunday afternoon we gather at the appointed place to meet up with others before we head off to the hike destination.

Today is our second hike, we gather at the movie theater parking lot (oh yes in case you are wondering Pohnpei has cinema and the movies are quite up to date Wall Street is playing there now) at 1pm and wait for the others before we head off to our hike destination. This is an easy hike to Liduduhniap Twin Waterfalls in Nett, those waterfalls are on Nanpil river. The administrator of the hikers club will inform on the email about the difficulty level on each hike and as this one is easy so we are eager to go and also our hiking shoes just arrived on Friday. In this hike you can swim in the pool at base of one of the waterfalls.  We carpool part of the way up the road and walk the rest.  

This time no guide is needed, but there is an entrance fee of one dollars/person charged by the family that stays near the waterfall. 

Well to be honest this time is not actually hike as we parked way too close with the waterfalls, so we just walk for 5 minutes and we have arrived at the first waterfall yeah it was a hard work :p. Some of us are really eager to get sweaty so we decided to walk further down to the second waterfalls, it was a bit slippery and steep and the result I fell on my bum, hard. Guarantee of sore bum tomorrow :(

It was a good day to swim on the base of the waterfalls.

My Project Update - Grow babies grow

This is dwarf bean 1 week old, it's growing and looking good.

The Iceberg Lettuce 1 week old

I think I mixed up the Cos lettuce seed with Broccoli, let see when it grows which one is this one.

 

My Project Update

Sam helped me to do the dirty job, preparing the potting mix in each pot and plant some seeds. I also started to plant more seeds yesterday so hopefully in couple of weeks I can see it grows, fingers cross.