Poverty Cheese

"Cheddar."  Ryan's words echoed through the small, narrow isles of the food store.

Time stopped.  The world ceased to spin for a moment.  The two-syllable word echoed through the caverns of my mind, and traveled down to my stomach.

Ryan opens beans "island-style"

Ryan had found cheddar.

Dreams of real, sharp cheddar cheese had filled our minds as we thought of the vast cooking possibilities, from quesadillas to cheesy rice to burritos and many other things.  We all involuntarily teleported to the sketchy little fridge in the dusty corner.  It held a few precious blocks of sharp cheddar, as well as a vast amount of plastic-y, processed American cheese well past its sell-by date.  We looked at the price of the sharp cheddar:  almost $9.00 for the small cube.  Overcome by the craving of cheese, we splurged and spent money for the precious cheddar.  We also picked up a huge, 120-slice pack of the cheap American cheese, not bothering to look at the price because we assumed it was pretty cheap compared to the cheddar.  Walking to the checkout, I heard a little voice.

"Teecha!"


Oh dear.

Here comes little Kokok bobbing down the isle, one of the more adorable little girls in my class.  She was also food shopping with her family, including both her parents whom I had never met.

I looked at myself.  Sweaty wife-beater tank top and basketball shorts, carrying a basket full of cheese and soy sauce.

"Hey Kokok!"  I said.  I looked up at her parents.  "Hi, I'm Mr. Davis, Kokok's teacher.  Its good to meet you!"  I said with as much professionalism that is possible for someone in my current physical appearance.  They smiled and helped me with my groceries.  People are nice here, even if you look like you just walked out of a trailer home in East Los Angeles.


Back at the apartment, something went down.

"Wow, we got a lot of American cheese!  Its a good thing its cheap," I said as I stuffed it in Old Unfaithful (our refrigerator's new name).  "How much was it anyways?  did we check?"
Ryan fishes out the receipt from a bag.  Scanning down the paper, he all of a sudden turns pale.  "Oooooh you guys.  Ha ha ha!"  He stammers with a crazy look on his face.  "That American cheese was $30.00!"

The bus broke down.  Load up the Vanette!

We all start to laugh uncontrollably.  All three of us instantly did the math in our head.  We could have had almost 4 more blocks of heavenly sharp cheddar in place of the rubbery, past-due American cheese.  "We could be dining on tons of amazing cheddar on rice and beans with sides of island fish, but instead we just spent all the money on cheese that poverty America eats.  We just spent $30.00 on Poverty Cheese!"

The name quickly stuck, and now our 120 slices of "Poverty Cheese" must be consumed before it turns green and fuzzy.  Determination between the three of us has never been greater.


*(Disclaimer:  We understand that poverty isn't a joke and that those living in such conditions would probably not find our wit funny, but its things like this that keep things light around here.)


After our "Tasty Bread" and cheese sandwiches, Tyler and I decided that we would go for a moonlight dip in the ocean before bed to cool down.
"Should we take our water shoes?"
"Nah, shouldn't need them."
Grabbing our spears just in case of some night fish, we headed out under the full moon the to ocean.  It was at low tide, which exposed large patches of soggy seagrass and scattered pools with coral and creepy night creatures.
Just then, we think of the worst idea ever.
"Hey, lets walk out a ways and see if any fish are trapped in the pools!"
We started squishing through the thick seagrass and 8 inches of water with our bare feet, dodging the occasional sharp coral.  Just then, we stopped.  Our headlamps picked up a weird, stretched out, see-through snake-like creature stretched across our watery path.  We sweep the area with our lights.  Tons of them litter the reef.  We keep walking, stepping carefully as to not encounter what we later found out where white eels.  After a few more steps, we saw movement in our headlight beam.  A black eel jumps out of a small pool and scurries across dry rock into another pool, just three feet from our legs.  Tyler and I look at each other.  "But we are already halfway..."

Now dodging white eels, jumping black eels, hermit crabs, sharp coral, and other nocturnal sea creatures out to get us, Tyler spots a Stone Fish just feet from his steps.  If you step on a stone fish they will puncture your foot with spikes and sting you, leaving your foot sore for days on end.

As this thought crossed my mind I foolishly took a blind step, right on a sea urchin.  I felt a sharp sting on my foot.  Lifting it up, I saw two bleeding punctures.  My foot started to ache from the sting.

"Pee on it!" Tyler said joyfully.  "It will take the sting away!"

Finally I hobbled across to the dry rocks near the surf where supposedly there was fish.  Except we were too distracted by eels, hidden urchins, crabs, sharp coral, weird sea bugs, and stone fish under our bare feet.  To top it all off, we all of a sudden see two figures emerge from the surf beside us and walk towards us.

"Of course this would happen.  Why wouldn't we expect two people to walk out of the waves at 10:30 at night?"

Now with about 150 yards back to shore, Tyler murmurs a prayer and we charge back, step by careful step.  We made it back fine, and vowed never to go in the ocean at night again without booties.


On a more controlled topic, school is still going pretty good.  Its hard, but so far the kids haven't noticed that I am actually not a teacher.  Walking to class this morning, I see Kokok.

"Teecha!  I saw you in the store last night!"  She says bashfully.  I pull out my guitar for morning singing, and teach them "King Jesus is All".  After a few practices, they are now begging to sing it every morning with ear-splitting voices.  Later in the day during spelling, Nelly-Sonia raises her hand.

"Yes, Nelly?"
"Can I go step outside?  I need to fart."

Wha....

"Um, yes.  Yes you may.  Be quick!"  I reply quizzically.

Unfortunately the deed was not done outside, but on the way back to her desk.  It took me a good 30 seconds to regain control of the class.  After that, the only other odd thing of the day was discovering a termite nest in the binding of Jennelly's math book.  Fantastic.

Brand-new Crayolas

Kosrae is beginning to feel like the home that I was hoping it would be at some point.  I still miss the U.S. and the people I treasure back at home, but I can exist here for a while off the grid and still feel happiness.  It didn't seem possible 3 weeks ago, but there is happiness in the little things.  Yeah, its cliche, but it is a beautiful thing to find out that your kids are delighted to see you in the grocery store, or that I am steps away from the great Pacific Ocean, and that I can learn a lesson in simplicity when I watch the excited smiles on my kids when I pull out our one new box of crayons to share.  And what made Kokok's mom (whom we had never met) help carry our groceries to our truck for us?  Its a simple little life here on Kosrae, but sometimes I think that's how it should be.



Peace from the tropics,

River