The Good, the Bad, and Butter.

"Excuse me!"

We turned around to see a car had stopped right where we were standing.  Its sunday evening, and we had just climbed up from jumping off a bridge into the bay, standing shirtless and wet.  

"Yes sir?" we replied to a man speaking from the front seat of his car.

"You are disobeying our religious practices.  As Sunday worshipers, we certainly do not swim on our day.  And also you should have your shirts on, its a disgrace on the Sunday!" He scolded.

"Oh but sir, we are SDA!" we said, remembering what Uncle Larry and Pastor Tarra told us about how it was perfectly fine to swim on Sunday on the island.

"So What!?  Its still not ok.  Put your shirts on!"

Confused, we put our shirts back on our wet backs, and biked back towards the school.  Almost to our road, we stopped by the shore to see the last remains of the sunset.  We saw Uncle Larry wading into the still waters of the reef.  The tide was low, so the ocean was quiet and the only waves were past the outer reef 100 yards out.  

"Uncle Larry, are you swimming?" We asked.

"Yes, you come join?"  

Already wet from the bridge jump, we waded into the still ocean water.  The afterglow was reflecting off the surface, making it hard to distinguish the sea from the sky.  We slid in the bathtub-temperature water, feeling like we were sitting in a cool hot spring pool.  Uncle Larry looked very relaxed.  

"The elders say that bathing in the warm salt water is healing for the bones," he said with a smile.  "I bath every time I get done working outside, it is very relaxing."  

We told him about our incident with the Protestant man, and he looked upset.  "He said that to you?  What did he look like?  Next time I will come with you and give him a piece of my mind.  He is just giving you trouble because you are American."

As darkness settled in over the water, the stars all of a sudden became unbelievably bright and clear.  I realized I hadn't really gazed at the stars yet on Kosrae, and I found that without any light pollution for thousands of miles, it was the brightest night sky I had ever seen.  We talked about the stars and constellations with Uncle Larry, and everything from the direction of Australia from Kosrae and the relationship between all of his sons and his daughters.  It was pitch black by the time we left the "hot springs", and we left our sage friend to the evening.  

There are good times and bad times right now.  The bad times often come in the morning, after dreams of missing family and girlfriends (ok, well, my girlfriend).  It is still hard to all of a sudden be woken up by a rooster at 6:00 am sharp, and realize that it will still be 9 months until you will see your family, girlfriend, and eat a taco bell burrito.  I sometimes lay there and wonder how I will conquer another day of 15 3rd-4th graders who some can barely read and write English and have no interest in listening to a American teacher say it.  I sometimes wish that it was May, and that we were about to board that United Airlines flight back to the States where we could see all those that we love.  I sometimes wish that I was done teaching, and I could go to 9111 S. Cedar Rim Lane and the pangs of America-sickness would be no more.  These are frequent right now, starting our second week in.  

That being said, the good times are really good.  Times when Uncle Larry calls us off the road for a dinner of fried fish and banana rice, and invites us to pick his tangerines, and when he stops his own work to teach us how to weave palm baskets (I made one of my own!).  And when our students recognize us at church, yelling "Teecha!  Teecha!" with big smiles on their faces.  And when heavy rain storms come and it summons all the giant, animated frogs that swim in the puddles.  And when little 1-year-old Shawn toddles up to give you a tiny fist bump.  And when we find a store that sells refrigerated BUTTER and CHEESE and ICE CREAM!  And when we find that Pastor Tarra and Uncle Larry have our backs when they realize that a local got upset at us, and they want to find out who did it so they can go stand up for our own religious beliefs and protect us in whatever way they can, even if its a small thing like this.  These times make me forget the bad ones, and I know that through the tough times, its these precious moments that will carry us over.  

Now to chow on fried ramen stir fry and sketchy Japanese ice cream!  Ryan has turned into a monster once he realized we have cockroaches.  I just witnessed him brutally murder one with a broom.  Cheers, and thank you for the prayers!  They are much needed and appreciated.

Peace from the tropics,

-River