The PINK Vitz, cows, and a visit to the Ka Forest

Here you go!  My PINK Vitz, at the lagoon wishing she too could swim.  I've swum there twice now, both times at high tide and a good swim.  Makes my body feel strong.  It's not a snorkeling thing there, tho people do.  When it's windy, the water is murky.  Often it is warm, too warm for my comfort.  At high tide it's less likely to be warm.  I'm looking forward to the return of morning high tides.  

We've also been to the Justice Dept hill, three times! This is the hill leading up to the Justice Dept where all sorts of people exercise at 5, after work.  Today I went with Alice's coworker and our former neighbor Glenice, we went up and back three times, took almost an hour.  Not so hot at 5.   The amazing thing about today's walk is Glenice pointed out the cows !!! imported from Pohnpei.  By whom?  Dunno.  Cows eat greenery.  They are mowing down the jungle.  But they do not eat Merremia (so sad).  One of the cows died today, got caught up in its tether.  So the organization watching after them came to part it out for all the employees.  Cows are an innovation.  Maybe there will be more?

Merremia is a huge problem in my view.  Here you see it growing over trees along my walk.  When I ask people about it, they say that farmers, 'agroforestry' can control it by girdling the vines.  Sure.   But most of the land around here seems not to be managed, is certainly not agroforestry.  Another issue I have with what I'm hearing is that this is considered to be an endemic plant.  It gets crazy when allowed out of the forest (shade) canopy.  The story goes that people who do not manage their lands well get taken over by merremia.  This is sort of a story line that comes often from expats when explaining things on the island.  I don't buy it.  This looks like an invasive.  I need to know more about invasives, and how to manage them.  Any help offered will be accepted gladly!

On Saturday I joined a tour of the Ka Forest (YELA) with Nick's class, Environmental Science at the College of Micronesia.  Of 16 students enrolled, 13 joined the tour!  Dr. Tholman Alik was our tour guide.  It was wonderful, listening to him talk to the students, watching them take in all the aspects from biodiversity, to the 'last standing forest of Terminalia carolinensis in the world' to how the Alik family worked with the Nature Conservancy to make this land into conservation area in perpetuity, and all the global info on climate change, etc.  It was mind blowing (and mostly, in Kosraean).  Check out the website: www.yelaka.com

Meanwhile, I continue to adapt.  Last week was pretty much nuts, because the power kept going out in an unpredictable fashion.  That meant, in addition to figuring out how to sleep in the heat (eat less, drink more water) and find my bug spray to keep the little biting ones off me, I didn't know when I'd be able to text or call or email.  So I had to make a list of things I needed to do once the power/internet came on: boil water, cook meals, connect by phone and email, think about publishing this blog, and so forth.  But when the power was off, there was plenty else I could do: laundry, take a shower, do my floor/core exercises, get in the car (it has AC!) and go somewhere, grocery shopping for instance.  And there is always the Nautilus (hotel where we stayed a week last year before moving into Fred Skilling's apartment).  Not sure why, but the Nautilus has had power and internet everytime I've stopped by.  It takes 15 min to drive there from my place, but it's a pleasant drive.  And, I discovered, sitting at a table in their restaurant, cooled by their AC and some iced tea, that they serve the. most. delicious. ever. chicken burger on the planet.  Enough for several meals.  

Every night I try to be home by 6, open a beer, and sit on the veranda to watch the sun go down.  Tonight there was a gorgeously large pink sky.  Usually it's more like in this picture.  No matter what it is, the evening pause is lovely.  Night comes early (6:30 pm) and if there's power, I can cook.  Tonight, I am on my computer! feeling grateful for the stronger internet connection than I had during the day.  

Ultimately, this life will reorient my priorities.  Maybe internet time is not all it's cracked up to be.  But it does help me, being connected, to feel less isolated here.  I am finding, however, that the things I do in the day that involve moving my body and doing something physical, like laundry, or walking or swimming, leave me feeling more accomplished than any amount of arranging files and thinking I'm going to read some document.  

Tomorrow I'm going to visit KIRMA, about Merremia, and about the Ka Forest.  This will start my 'work' here, and I can tell you I already know it will take at least three months to get anything at all accomplished.  Grateful I have the time.  I also have three meetings (on zoom? or phone) about digitizing medical records.  You may find me in a dusty rat infested room sorting through old files of people long dead, deciding whether to keep or pitch.  Lots to look forward to!

Next post will be about my piano! and life at Kennedy's.