Sunday, December 19, 2010

On My Way Home

Happy Holidays everyone! I sincerely apologize for the large gaps of time between my blog entries. I am currently in Hawaii taking a short vacation before I head back to the States where it is a lot colder. I will arrive in Baltimore on December 22nd at 4:44 p.m., just in case you want to meet me at the airport. I left Chuuk on December 11, stayed in Guam for 2 nights and have been in Hawaii since the 13th. I'm staying with some host family members of my fellow Volunteer friend John. We've attempted to do a lot of touristy things, but have spent most of our time riding Honolulu's public transportation system called The Bus, which is supposed to be the best in the country. However, we have done a lot of hiking , hung out on Waikiki beach and gone to a picnic, among other things.

So I know a lot of you are wondering about my water catchment project. Before I left Chuuk, I bought all of the materials and transported them to my island on a ship. Community members have prepared the site for the water tank, placed the reinforcements. and have poured the cement for the foundation. There was quite a bit of money left over. I have given that money to the new Volunteer at my site named Johnny. He has taken over my responsibilities for the project. He will oversee the construction and make sure all the materials will be used for our project. Johnny will use the leftover money to buy additional materials, such as PVC pipe, if needed. Before I left, I gave community a speech to motivate them to work on the project. I know they want a water tank, but it seems like the community leaders are doing all of the work and the youth are not helping as much as they should be. I only saw them unload materials from the ship and bring some cement blocks to the construction site. One of the goals of this project is sharing of skills between the men and the youth. By working with the men, the youth will learn valuable transferable skills they can use later in their lives in order to earn some money or build their own water tank or house. I hope the youth will get more involved when that actual tank construction happens. I told Johnny to take pictures during each phase of construction. I will do my best to post those pictures so you all can see what has been done with your generous donations. Without your help and support, I could not have not bought all the materials and witness the beginning of construction. I wish more work was done on the catchment before I left, but things move slow here on the islands. I want you all to know that the project is in good hands and it will be completed, hopefully within the next couple of months. Any leftover funds will be donated to other Peace Corps Volunteer projects around the world.

Now that my Peace Corps service has come to a close, I have to start thinking about my future. I really don't know what I'm going to do. I haven't really been able to do any job searching in Chuuk due to the rare occurrence of power at our office. I will figure everything out when I get back home. I do want to apply for some government jobs, maybe even to a job at Peace Corps Headquarters if one appeals to me. I'll probably apply to a few teaching jobs as well since, after all, I've been teaching for the past 2 years. I'm a pretty open minded guy so I'll keep my options open. If you have any suggestions as to how to go about my job search or if you know of any job opportunities in areas I have mentioned above, please let me know. I would love to hear from you.

I would love to see all of you when I get back home. If you want to meet up sometime, send me an email at bbgruver@gmail.com. I don't have a cell phone or car but I plan to get those things in the near future. Bye for now.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Fundraising for Water Project

Happy 4th of July everyone! I'll be missing the fireworks and good food here and light a firework and eat a burger for me. I hope you all enjoy it.

I know it's been a while for my last post and for that I apologize. In my last entry I briefly mentioned about a water project. Since then, it's been posted on Peace Corps website (www.peacecorps.gov/contribute) and folks in the U.S. has raised over half of the amount I requested.

For those of you who don't know, I am raising money for a water tank that will serve 75 plus people in my community. This number included 6 families who go to other peoples' houses to take a shower and wash their clothes because they don't have water tanks or running water of their own. The water catchment system I am raising money for will provide running water to these folks. PVC pipes will allow water to flow from the water tank to each family's home. They will no long have to leave their home to do daily tasks such as washing clothes. This project will benefit the out-of-school youth in my community by allowing them to help build the tank and learn valuable skills from more experienced workers. Hopefully this project will help them find paid work in the future.

Thank you to those of you who already donated to my project. It is amazing individuals have donated more than $4,000 a month and a half. Your contribution will make a difference in my host community long after I'm gone. Community members will remember you all for your kindness and generosity. You all are allowing me to do this project through your financial gifts. I am just facilitating it. Please keep on spreading the word to other people. I have 4 and a half more months left of Peace Corps service so I would like to raise the rest of the money as soon as possible. With your help, I know this will be possible.

If you have not donated yet but would like to, please visit Peace Corps website at www.peacecorps.gov/contribute and type my last name (Gruver) in the space provided on the main page and click search. That will bring you to my project, "Improved Community Access to Water." Click on the title so you can read the project summary and to contribute. I would suggest that you all donate online since that will be the quickest way to raise the money. However, if you feel uncomfortable with that, you can donate by mail. Please fill out this form and mail it to the Peace Corps office. Thank you in advance for your tax deductible donation. My community and I really appreciate it. Please email me at bbgruver@gmail.com to inform me that you donated.

I also want to thank those of you who donated books to my school. This summer my principal and I have been busy finishing building the book cabinets before the school year starts. Other than that I have been working on my garden. I am growing cucumbers and eggplant. I recently made a ceiling out of sticks for the cucumbers they can lay on. I am also planning on doing a map project which involves painting a map in each classroom at the school where I teach. I want to paint maps of Chuuk, FSM and the pacific since those are areas they students learn about.

Early tomorrow morning I am going to the island nation of Palau for a COS (Close of Service) conference which is a graduation of sorts for me and the other PCVs who arrived in Micronesia in 2008. Our group is going back to the States in November. On my way back from Palau I will stop by Yap State in FSM for a couple days. I will return to Chuuk July 16.

I'll sign off for now until I get back from Palau. I hope you all are doing well. Take care.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Birthday diving and project planning

Today is my birthday. I am now 26 years-old. I can't believe I was 24 when I started my Peace Corps tour. For my birthday, I went diving at Blue Lagoon Resort on Chuuk's capital island. They wouldn't let me dive in the morning because the dive was 150 feet and I'm a beginning diver (I only dove once in St. Thomas since I received my dive certification). I had to wait until 1 p.m. to dive but it was worth it. I went diving with 2 couples who had much more diving experience than I. One of the couples were from Australia and had just arrived in Chuuk from Yap (one of FSM's four states). For those of you who don't know, Chuuk lagoon is known for having the best shipwreck diving in the world because of the many WWII ships that are scattered on the bottom of the sea. My first dive was at the sight of a 500 foot ship. It was quite a site. The surface of the ship was covered with colorful coral and was a home for many ship and other marine life. I mainly followed my dive guide the whole time. I dove in part of the ship but I swam along the outside for the most part. On the side of the ship I saw it's name in English and Japanese which I forgot. Some neat artifacts I saw were some china plates and cups and what appeared to be an old wine or whiskey bottle. My dive guide picked up an object and then put it up to his hear so I knew it was a phone. I dove 80 feet that dive and I blew my nose very hard when I got fairly deep instead of blowing it every 3 feet. Because of that my nose bled a lot. However, that didn't stop me from doing our next dive. Between our first and second dives, we scuba dived above a submarine called Suzuki. Our second dive was only 60 feet at the sight of a sunken plan called Betty Bomber. I was the cockpit and got to swim in and out one of the windows. As I was observing the propeller 20 feet away, the dive guide pointed out 4 dolphins that swam above us. It was amazing. I had seen wild dolphins before but never while I was swimming or diving. It was a first for the other divers and guide as well. That sight will be with me for a long time. I went up a little bit earlier than the others because my guide saw blood in my mask from my nose. I was just glad that I got to see those dolphins. Too bad I didn't have an underwater camera with me. That would have been a great shot.

On to my projects now. I have a plan to write a grant proposal for a water tank next to the Catholic church that is being built in my village. The idea was given to me by the supervisor of the school where I teach. He said not only would it serve the church goers every Sunday, but it could also serve 5 families and visitors to Fefen who don't have access to water buy connecting plastic water pipes from the tank to the dock. I am working with a man who was a former city planner who agreed to sketch the tank design for me. I want to meet with him before I return to school to try to figure out the budget other information needed for the proposal. I hope to get funding through Peace Corps Partnership Program which pairs up American donors with my host country community. My community needs to donate at least 25% of the total project cost but the rest can come from friends, family and individuals and organizations in the private sector. I would like to know how many of you would be willing to donate money to this important project. My if accepted by Peace Corps, it would be published on Peace Corp's website and will allow donors to donate online by submitting online checks. If you think this is a worthy cause and you would like to help me and my community to help make our water tank project a reality, please email me at bbgruver@gmail.com. Please tell anyone you can about this project and the fact that my community is 100% behind it and all donations and tax deductible. Donors can be assured that every cent of their donation will go towards my project. I have to start writing the proposal now so my community can start building the tank at the beginning of the summer.

Well, I think I will do it for me. I appreciate the birthday wishes from some of you and your love and support as I go into my second and final year of service. I know I wouldn't have made it this far if it wasn't for all of your thoughts, prayers, love and encouragement. I have been thankful that I haven't had any serious illnesses or injurious, except for a swollen ankle that I have right now that I got from running. Happy New Year and I hope to see some of you when I come hope for a vacation in August 2010.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Happy Holidays from Chuuk

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and that it's not too cold where you are, especially on the East Coast. I know it's been a while since I've updated this blog so that's why I'm doing it now.

My Christmas here was very special, mainly because I got to spend it with my real mom who decided to spend the holidays with me here in Chuuk. When she arrived on Christmas Eve, we went straight to my island. We went to Catholic mass on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Her favorite part was the children singing Christmas carols in Chuukese. We spent the rest of Christmas day with my host family. My baby sister got real hot during church so my host mom had to go back home early. My mom, being the health professional that she is, was concerned and advised my host mom to take her temperature which was 39.1 C. She massaged the infant's body with coconut oil which cooled her skin. My host mom gave her infant daughter some coconut water to drink and nursed her until she was rehydrated. She was back to normal the next morning.

That wasn't the only thing my mom did to make a difference. She happened to bring many different reading glasses of various strengths. Everyone on my island thought my host grandmother was blind because she's not able to read but she can still see well enough to get around. Anyways, my mom had her try on all the glasses she brought. She tried on one pair (size 2) that she was able to read small print with. The next thing I knew, she was reading the Bible out loud in Chuukese. Wow! All she needed were a pair of reading glasses. What a remarkable discovery. So that solved that problem.

It has been a little over a year since I arrived in Chuuk and a lot has happened. I feel that I have changed for the better. I learned that I have resilience, having bounced back from some tough situations. I have surprised myself by the high level of competency I have in speaking the Chuukese language. I feel that I am fluent and am able to have a decent conversation with just about anyone. I am being able to predict how people will react to certain things I do and say that us Americans easily take for granted. In other words before I didn't know enough of the language and culture in order to predict peoples' reactions to my actions and words. I also learned how well I can adapt to different situations easily and quickly. This journey has not been easy but I am glad that I took it on because I am growing and learning so much about the world around me and about life in general than I ever could in the States. I am so thankful that my mom came here to witness my life here since it will be easier for me to share my experience with her when I return back to the States.

Since I've been here, I've always thought teaching has been one of my biggest challenges. For one, I don't have a required counterpart since my principal from last year went back to school to finish her bachelor's degree. My counterpart from last year is the acting principal this year and has no time to really assist me in the classroom since he is either teaching himself or attending principal workshops/meetings. I find it difficult to stick with the curriculum because I either don't know how to teach the material effectively or because the standards are over the heads of my students. I try to teach them things I think they should know and then move up from there. Discipline is still a struggle and it's hard for me to be consistent, maybe because I sometimes don't follow through on the consequences of my students' behavior. Another thing I need to work on is speaking more English and less Chuukese in my classes. My principal tells me to only speak English but I think it is pretty impossible, especially with my 5th grade. I mix English and Chuukese. I want to find and make more activities that get them excited to speak English in class. If anyone has any suggestions, please email me or comment on the blog.

Well I have to go now because the woman at the front desk of the hotel I'm staying at is leaving. Tomorrow is my birthday and I plan on going diving, I will write another update tomorrow.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Mortlocks Trip

So yesterday (Friday Aug. 7) I arrived Weno with 3 other PCVs after a 2 week long trip to Chuuk's Mortlock islands. We took a ship there and back, a different one each time. Being on the ship was quite an experience. It took us 27 hours to get back to Weno. The ship we were on was jammed packed with people. We stayed on the deck at the front of the boat. We were covered by a tarp and mostly women and children slept there on hand woven mats everyone sleeps on here (I tried to buy one in the Mortlocks but it was too expensive). We slept on the spit for 3 days because we arrived 2 days before it left (thought it was going to leave sooner than it did). I didn't sleep very well since I had to change positions every few seconds to dodge body parts on the hard wooden floor of the ship's deck. I spent the time on the ship reading Hiroshima and A Wrinkle in Time and played hearts with a deck of cards a fellow PCV made from notebook paper.

My trip to the Mortlocks was so fun. It probably was the cheapest vacation I've been to. I left Weno for the Mortlocks on Wednesday July 22 with 2 fellow lagoon PCVs and our boss. We arrived there on Thursday July 23. Our main purpose was to visit prospective sites for the incoming PCVs but we also visited our friend who served as a volunteer on Satowan, a Mortlock island. We came just in time because he was preparing to leave that site and transfer to another one on the island of Moch, another Mortlock island. We did three site visits while we were there. We visited prospective host families and counterparts from the schools. One prospective host family made of feast for us, including mangrove crabs and lobster (the food in the Mortlocks was probably the healthiest I've eaten since I've been in the FSM because it's practically all local). We saw all of the current PCVs sites in the Morlocks and stayed with 3 of their families.

Most of the trip we stayed on Satowan with our friend who served there. We slept in his own local house made out of mangrove wood and leaves patched together to form a roof. The people who took care of us were our age and were great. They hung out with us and served us food every meal. The food was great. We eat fish at every meal with plenty of breadfruit, banana, rice and taro. Every morning they made us pancakes from scratch for breakfast. They always had hot water for us so we could make our own instant coffee anytime we wanted. In our free time we played card games such as hearts, monkey and spades. We went swimming and took walks around Satowan. One day we walked to Ta island on the reef from Satowan. It took us 3 hours to get there. We stayed our fellow PCV's house. On our way there, we were invited to attend a post wedding ceremony. The bride was one of Alex's (PCV on Satowan) high school students. We drank coffee and eat a ton of delicious food. We also played duck duck goose with some of the kids there. It was neat playing with them with their parents watching. Everyone enjoyed themselves including me.

I got back to Fefen on Saturday August 8. It was good to see my family and friends in my community again. I checked out my garden and it looks like all of my plants are still alive, especially my green beans. I can't wait to eat them. Tomorrow I have to report back to school. School starts in September and I can't wait. I learned a lot about teaching last school year and I am ready to try some new activities and teaching methods with my students. I found out that my principal went to Pohnpei to finish her degree while I was gone so my counterpart will be the acting principal while she is gone. All of my projects are on hold at the moment. I am working to develop a training program for the drop out students in my community with the help of my uncle who is the vocational education specialist for the Chuuk Department of Education. I would like to start an adult English class soon but first I have to make a sign up sheet for it.

I think that's it for now. Take care all and keep in touch.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Graduation, summer plans, ect.

Hey Everyone,
I'm so sorry I haven't updated my blog since January but I'll try to update you as much as I can as to what has happened since my last update. I've been on Weno since July 3 for a meeting I attended yesterday. It was a meeting to discuss issues PCVs have with PC policy amongst other things. One representative in the M74 and M75 groups (my group) from each of FSM's 4 states and Palau came to Weno for the meeting. I represented the Chuuk M75s at the meeting and I brought up every issue me and my fellow M75s in Chuuk wanted me to bring up. I just hope most of our concerns get recognized by the PC Micro staff and they make the changes we requested. I was glad to see the M75s from the other islands in the FSM and Palau.
My school's graduation was on June 26. My PCV friend John came and our PC Program Assistant Imauo came was well. I was very proud of my students, especially the ones who delivered speeches including the one I wrote. I did a little activity called B1 that the students learned from a movie. It involves clapping and chanting. Both the audience and the students loved it.
This summer I will teach a summer school class to the 7th graders starting tomorrow (I haven't made the lesson plans yet). They will be learning math and English only since those are the subjects they struggle the most in. I'll be working with another teacher during the English class and will do fun reading, writing and speaking activities, hopefully outside if I can. The class runs only two weeks and I've missed 2 days so far, since I've been on Weno. I'm leaving soon to go back to Fefan, my island, so I can prepare for tomorrow. Other summer plans I have involve possibly teaching an English class to adluts and drop out students and asssiting my 7th graders with building book cabinets for all the books I've gotten from some of you (thanks so much). I also would like to go scuba diving in the Chuuk Lagoon and make a trip out to the Mortlocks (outer islands) with another lagoon PCV to visit Alex, who serves on the island of Satawan.
I am doing well and staying healthy. I feel like I am integrating more and more into my community with each passing day. I enjoy walking around my community and talking to people. They like to joke around with me but also have serious conversations with me as well. I feel that people in my community are comfortable with me and I am comfortable with them.
Sorry to cut this short but I've got to make my way to the dock to meet my "uncle" so I can go back with him to Fefen. I promise to write another post real soon since I've be comming into Weno more often now that it's summer.

Take care,
Ben

Friday, January 16, 2009

Life in the Lagoon

Hello Eveyone. I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to update this blog until now. My island doesn't have electricity and I haven't had many oppotunities to come to Weno. Thanks to those of you who have written me. I am always happy anytime I hear from family and friends.
I have been on Fefen, my assigned island, for a little over two months now and a lot has happened. I am teaching 5th through 8th grade English at UFO Elementary School. UFO stands for the three villages that make up the community I live in (Ununo, Foggen and Onogoch). I live and work in Ununo. Fefen is the 4th largest island in Chuuk and is located in the Chuuk Lagoon (which is composed of several islands inside a huge reef). Outside of the lagoon are the outer islands. Fefen is a little bit more primitive than Weno, the capital. Fefan doesn't have any cars, restaurants, hotels or anything you would find in a city. I has one road and people walk everywhere they go. Fefen is an agriculture island so most people grow their own food (such as breadfruit, taro (a local root vegetable), pinapple, cucumber, banana, coconut and more. My host father is a fisherman and a farmer. Neither he or my host mother earns money so I buy everything that me and my family needs.
The women here wear local skirts and t-shirts and dresses to work and to church. Men wear shorts and t-shirts at home and pants and a short sleeve colared shirt to work. Their are several customs here. My favorite custom is sharing. People share everything here. Everywhere I walk, people invite me into their homes to eat with them and drink coffee. Usually we don't see that in the States. Everyone in UFO is Catholic and attends the catholic church in UFO every Sunday.
So far, I can say that I've been bitten by a dog (dogs are not pets here), eaten dog, gone spear fishing and line fishing, climbed a coconut tree, danced the cha-cha on New Years Eve and eaten turtle and turkey tail.
I'll try to give you all an idea about what I do on a typical day. At 6 a.m. I wake up and take a bucket shower. I eat breakfast (usually rice) at 7:00 a.m. and go to school between 7:30 and 8 a.m. School starts at 8:15 a.m. with my 5th grade homeroom class. I teach until 12:15 p.m., eat lunch and co-teach a special class to the 8th graders at 1 p.m. After that, I write my lesson plans for the next day and grade papers. After work, I like to take a walk through the village and play with the kids on the road. Around 5 p.m. I like to walk to the dock to watch the sunset. I am involved with the youth here and I attend their meetings every Sunday. I've helped them raise money for their activities and have provided them with advice. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I have Chuukese tutoring at 4 p.m. with a man who teaches English and math at the local high school. He's tutored PCVs before and he's been very helpful.
My house is great. It's concrete and is on a hill overlooking the road and school. I have two rooms (one to sleep in and one to store my stuff in). In my free time, I read, practice my Chuukese, go swimming, fishing, playing with the kids and taking pictures (by the way, I sent my real dad my disks from the digital camera so I hope he will send those to you soon).
Well, I have to go meet my host dad at the market so we can go back to Fefen. I hope this entry has give you more of idea about my life here. Despite the many challenges, I am glad that I am here and serving in the Peace Corps. I know I will learn and grow more than I can imagine during the two years I am here. Take care everyone and let me know how the presidential inaguration went.