Cast Away

Hello all. Well its that time again where I tell you more about my stories and experiences in Pohnpei. So we better get to this.

Last weekend we went to an outter island called Black Coral. This island was just a piece of jungle land that you could walk around in probably 2 minutes and it had no electricity. As the little fishing boat with 20 people on it pulled up to the shore, the owner came out to welcome us. This man was seriously the guy from "Cast Away" long beard and all. But of course Pohnpeian. I knew we were in for the rough island experience that I had longed for and boy did I get it.

We chose our hammock location right away. I so wisely put mine over the ocean. There happened to be a tree on the island and a tree in the ocean that I could connect too. Although, it was pretty amazing swinging over the ocean when the rain came my other friends and I didn't last too long and moved into a little hut. The next day started off interesting to say the least and I am pretty sure I have experienced something that you have not(don't be jealous). so here it goes.

I was oh so innocently walking over to the ocean with my snorkeling gear when two of the other student missionary boys call me over. They tell me that whistling into a crab shell will make the crab come out a little bit. I try it and the little crab peeks out despite my poor whistling skills. The boys then tell me I should let the crab tickle my lip because it feels funny. I would like to insert here that this is when I had poor judgment and writing this makes me feel like the smartest person in the world(hmm...).  Anyways, I put the crab up to my lip and let it tickle me. This is where things get a little fuzzy. I think they told me to do it again and somehow the little crab was back up to my lip and he decided to clamp on to it. It hurt and I naturally said ow. They thought I was kidding. I wished I was. So they began trying to get the little crab to release itself from my lip. This crab was determined and would not let go. Every time they went to tug it off the little guy pinched me even harder. There may have been tears rolling down my face, but I could not stop laughing. I mean come on who gets a crab stuck to their lips? Some of the staff came over to see what this commotion was about and Archie pulled out his knife and after sometime succeeded in cutting the crab legs off. The boys felt really bad about my puffy lip, but I just thought it was hilarious. I have the crab shell for keepsake. 

Thats not where the story ends. This next story was a bit more scary and not so funny. After removing the crab off my lips I eventually made it to the water ready to snorkel. The reef was beautiful and had lots of fish with vibrant colors. The other student missionaries had seen sharks in this area and I was determined to find one myself. I set off snorkeling around the island with two other guys with the quest to find a shark. We made it to the other side of the island and still had seen no shark. Then another guy showed up and said he just saw a few in the direction we had come from. So we all agreed to turn back and I was exhausted anyways. The boys took off pretty fast and I had intended too but I just was so tired. I began swimming and realized that I was not going anywhere. I was right before the big waves were breaking and all the swaying started to make me sea sick. I looked to the boys and they were way ahead of me. I began to get nervous. Here I was in the ocean with big waves breaking and I had no energy to do anything about it. Now you might wonder why I didn't just ride the waves in? The island side I was on had only coral to get through the shallow waters and that stuff hurts. I tried to remain calm but the ocean is not really my comfort zone. Luckily, one of the guys noticed I was missing and came back. He tried helping me but I must say I was in a bad mood and I suddenly was determined to get on land even if I had to go through the sharp coral. I started to take the waves in and the poor guy had to follow. Oh boy, it was so scary to look behind me and see a huge wave beginning to break and look in front of me and see a huge piece of coral. The wave would push me around and I would do my best to dodge the coral. Somehow we made it in with limited cuts. Once we got on the mangrove shore I sat down for awhile because I still felt sick. I was not quite up to the adventure of finding a way to our island(we landed on a different island right across from the one we were camping on). After about 10 minutes 2 other guys showed up and the same thing happened to them. I was so happy to make the party of two a party of four and I found the drive to start making our way back. We were walking through this jungle land when we met up with a lot of other guys that were out looking for me. I guess the principal noticed that I was gone and wanted them to go find me. I was so happy to make it back to camp. I was gone for 2 hours. They told me it was a really bad rip current and then it all made since. Anywho, I didn't go back in the ocean after that. 

Woo so those our my "Cast Away" stories. I'm not quite sure I would last that long on an island by myself. I'll catch you guys up on classroom stuff later because that was longer than I had anticipated. I hope you all are well and thank you so much for reading. It really does mean so much.

I am sick once again. I am not sure I slept at all last night so wish me luck in the classroom today. Poor kids. I love you all and comment if you wish!