Recent adventures

Well, here is Matt. On a scooter, wearing a bicycle helmet, doing a Nacho Libre move! He finally got it to work after having some battery issues and has been having a lot of fun using it. The bicycle helmet is being used becuase the scooter helmet grew some mold while it wasn't being used. He just has to watch out for dogs that might chase him or crazy drivers - which there are a lot of both!

Here we are at Apsco, a little launch site we found to go kayaking!

Gearing up to get out on the kayak for our first time! You'll notice that I am wearing a dress, but many of the ladies here wear their skirts like this. I don't really get it, because sometimes they'll wear two skirts (one at the waist one at the chest), or a skirt under a dress. Almost none of the women here wear shorts or pants, I think it's both a cultural thing and a heat thing. Although I do see some of the younger generation wearing shorts.

You'll notice Sokehs Rock under my left paddle. And my hair looks so red in this picture! It's been doing some funky things lately, and I haven't found a place to go here that I trust so I'll have a year of no hairdressing! But I'll probably get a trim or two.

I was trying to get us and the boats in the background

Exploring the weird rock formations at Nan Madol, where we also took our kayak. It is this crazy underwater town that they have no idea how it was formed.

From Wikipedia: Nan Madol is a ruined city that lies off the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei (presently one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia) and used to be the capital of the Saudeleur dynasty until about AD 1500.[3] The city consists of a series of small artificial islands linked by a network of canals and is often called the Venice of the Pacific. The name Nan Madol means "spaces between" and is a reference to the canals that criss-cross the ruins.

Here are a couple local kids who were hanging out with their mom and brother and sisters. People here swim in their clothes, the only people I've ever seen in a swim suit were Menwai (white people or foreigners)

Here is Matt taking the local boy for a ride!

This was our table a Quiz Night, a fundraiser held by the local Rotary Club here. These are some of our friends from Australia, well Tazmania actually, Elishka, Matt and Nathan.

Here is the view of all the different tables. We didn't win but got a free t-shirt and 2 piggy banks in the shape of an ox or a ram or something.

Well here is the inside of our house! The floors are red linoleum, and the walls and ceiling are wood slats like inside a cabin - a perfect breeding ground for termites! And the geckos seem to love it too, because even if we can't see them, we still know they're there based on the droppings they leave for us.

here is our family room/office/dining room/kitchen

Here is our laundry room and one of the many clothes lines
And here is where the rest of the lines are, outside on our patio. I am out here a lot hanging clothes to dry. Life without a dryer is not easy but I'm getting used to it! But I can only do one load a day because we don't have a ton of covered space to hang the clothes (so they don't get wet from the rain).

Here I am with all the sister missionaries, from left, who are from: Island of Yap, New Zealand, Florida, California (me), Marshall Islands, St George, Salt Lake area, Salt Lake area. We all got together to celebrate Thanksgiving, there were about 20 of us. We brought a green salad (cabbage is the lettuce here) and a pumpkin pie that I made! This was the first pie I have ever made on my own and I have to say that it was really good!

Here are a bunch of the guy missionaries eating pumpkin pie. We were at the Ridings apartment, they are one of the senior missionary couples here from Utah.

And here is another great sunset in our backyard...