COM Fair, Rabbit Island and Merremia's farewell

Lots happened during my last two weeks in Kosrae. 

The College of Micronesia Kosrae Branch (COM) had a Fair, displaying its course offerings to college and high school students.  It was a midday celebration, lots of fun, festive.

At the entrance, a new sidewalk!  Good thing; the ground is generally soggy.

The UTWE Youth group were amazing!

  Syncopated acapella singing drew standing applause.

George Tilfas is the Interim Dean, one of the most admirable education leaders I have met.

I happened into one of the presentations, and lo and behold it was just the class I'd been looking for! Basic Crop Production

(I have to say, it is a futuristic class -- ag on Kosrae is all subsistence.) 

Students were attentive.  This instructor, Tara Tara, keeps machete's at the ready.  He also teaches Ag and Natural Resources Management, and Dry Litter Piggery! Students who do well in the latter get to take a piglet home for a future dinner.

The silent auction was a big success.  There were five desktop computers up for bid, dresses and T-shirts, lotions and chocolate, coffee and machetes.  There were also tables of food for sale, including these sweet little reef fish that I took home to my frying pan.

Our friend Gasma and his wife Janice invited me to an afternoon swim party and picnic at Rabbit Island (so named because the man who owned it had long ears).  The walk from the picnic beach out to the point was gorgeous.

Gasma cooked fish he'd caught the night before, and steaks, chicken and hotdogs.  There were lots of kids and lots of food.  A volleyball net too.  Some collected sea snails in the low tide.  These are boiled to release the meat, then pickled and sold for a good price at RJ's store.

One day I was taken to see Julise's seedling operation.  Kenye of the Kosrae Women Farmers took me.  A grant (to Lelu Farmers Association) supports two seedling production centers including a freezer (or frig?) to keep the seeds from molding.  Julise is a true gardener, with various vegetable crops growing outside her greenhouse (peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and lettuce, cucumbers, eggplant, taro, bananas, breadfruit). She is able to give away 250 seedlings a week.  The netting on her greenhouse is to keep out marauding lizards.  Lelu Farmers make the greenhouses: 24 last year, 30 more this year!  The potential for growing vegetables is amplifying.  Greenhouses are a good idea for keeping the pounding rain off young plants.

Dominic's Pizza had a special: poke pizza! it was delicious.

My friend Mary cooked mangrove crabs for us, along with sashimi tuna, reef fish, rice, tapioca (cassava) and fah fah.  A special dinner with a special friend.

A last walk with Glenice at Okat along the runway.  It was a perfect afternoon and a flat walk!

My last weekend, from the Lelu Congregational Church, I looked back across the Lelu lagoon toward Mr. Kennedy's.  I located it by the big field of Merremia up above it on the steep hillside.  As I looked, I realized there was a path cut out of the Merremia ... no, not a path, a carving!  When I got home I looked at it more closely.

It was a heart.

 Merremia's joke is on me.

Here, someone carved a heart and filled it with grass.  

The vine has not grown over the outline.

The vine has not overtaken the grass.

Here is the secret to getting rid of Merremia.

And here is the secret to Kosreae.

Warm, friendly people with a message of love.