The Rathgebers East to West: 2008

Hi all, Just a quick note to tell you that I'm still alive but haven't been on the computor lately-Barb nd I have been busy looking at houses and doing all sorts o things. She is working full time now 9-3 and so thenwe start in. I'm waiting for the answers from 3 bids I put on did. homes. I'm also starting to pack up things around here to go to NY and FLA. I'll be in NY from Dec.21 to 29. I hope before that happens I can settle on a home. I'm in the middle of getting my bottom teeth and should be fitted on the 18th of dec. Sure hope they fit good or I'm sunk... Gilgo loves the cool weather lately and thinks he owns this complex out here. Becky, I think I will move to Yap if this doesn't work oout.. ssure looks like an awesome place to settle down with a good book> meerry Crristmas to all and to all a good night for now...LLLLoOOOVVVEE YOU GRAms

OK, Just got back from Yap. Just in case you don't know where it is.... It's in Micronesia. Part of the Federated States of Micronesia or FSM. It's pretty small but has 600 miles of outer islands and a few of them are inhabited. http://www.visit-fsm.org/yap/ to learn more....

I stayed in Colonia, that's the capital and the only place that had a few stores together. The rest of the island is mainly villages with small convenience type stores here and there. Mostly everything is very traditional, the housing is still mainly thatched and tin and wood. It was verrryyy lush and very untouched. many people don't work, they live off the land, so i guess that's work though. it was really cool to be there. they all speak english and the language across the federated states as well as their native languages. and everyone was really, really nice. at the conference i was there for were people from chuuk, pohnpei, saipan marshall islands, guam, kosrae, american samoa, palau and i can't remember where else, but it was a small conference so it was it was really great to get to know so many people from micronesia. i made some really great friends and i really want to go again next year to pohnpei :)

So these pictures are in no particular order.
A nice little playground.

This was a stone path. I think they used to go through the villages. There are houses on either side. It was a really nice path that I wandered along.

me all by myself on the walk. someone startled me and i was embarrassed to be taking my own picture :)

it's really beautiful there. and hot. and humid. very sweaty mcgee.

this was in front of my hotel. the bus stop. tons of kids here in the morning and afternoon. right to the right of this photo there is a small field where they play after school. my hotel was awesome. and it was fun to be in the middle of town.

The last day i was there i went snorkeling with 2 other librarians from UH. It was awesome. they are supposed to have some, if not the best diving in the world. but i'm not really a diver, so we decided on snorkeling with captains JP and Joe. It was awesome and i'm so glad i went. the water was nice and warm, the fish were amazing, and the coral was even cooler. too bad i didn't bring a waterproof camera. they took us to two spots. the first one was really shallow reef and it was cool. the second was where they go diving and the coolest thing was coming from the shallow reef over to where it dropped to 50-70 feet. just a wall of total deep blue and tons of fish. it was really an amazing feeling. awe.

this is the back of my hote. i was in the one with the green roof and my balcony was the second from the left. ahhh. that place was awesome. like a beach/boat room. all dark wood, tv, cable, dvd player.... what the yap? i coudn't even get contact solution here. they said maybe next month! but a gracious missionary lent me some.

channel to get to our second snorkeling spot. it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! mangroves everywhere here.

Joe went snorkeling while we did :)

JP and Joe. they even brought tea and hot choclate for us cause it gets a bit cold after being in the water for awhile. they are awesome.

there are like 10 sign posts like this around the island. there are only a few roads, so no biggie. lots of dirt roads.

bus stop. they had a lot of those too. and feral dogs. tons.

this is the stone money. they used to actually use this stuff. Yap is the "Island of Stone Money"

this is Tanya. she worked at the hotel/inn i stayed at. i think she was one of the helpers that made some of the 100+ head dresses that we got during the conference. everyone got at least three while we were there. she was really sweet. also, it's such a small town that budget rental car comes and meets you wherever to return, or pickup your car. now that's service.

these are some of my friends from saipan, guam, and pohnpei. i had a really great time with them.

my hotel. isn't it cute?

we took the missionaries out to dinner. i was there with a coworker and we had a lot of fun.

they made us cocunut drinks as much as we wanted.

this is the betel nut spit that is everywhere. they chew betel nut constantly. everyone. everyone has red lips and teeth from it, and a ball in the side of their mouth while chewing. it's a mild narcotic i think, and addictive i guess.

Yapese chief Charles Chieng prepares a chew of betel nut with pepper leaf and lime.
borrowed this picture from online. but this is how a lot of the men dress. in just the blue loin cloth or whatever you call it. and actually, some women really don't wear tops. they are very traditional there. not uncommon or strange. well to me a bit, but no one else seemed to notice.

sunrise. the view from the balcony in my room

these kids are so useful at such a young age. they can make all sorts of handicrafts, dance amazing and lots of other things I'm sure. and they're so cute.

I walked up to church and was dripping with sweat by the time i got there. disgusting. and i was an hour and a half early, but i got to know some of the awesome people and it was really a treat. This wonderful woman, Angie, volunteered to be our tour guide around the island. and she used to be a taxi driver so she was very knowledgeable :)

this is a meeting house where they still have village meetings. there are also a lot of men's houses that just the men can hang out in. the women are only allowed there to clean. nice right.

the ladies from yap that were in charge of the conference and the massive amounts of food they served all week. i did not loose weight that week. not at all. lots of grilled fish, yum, chicken, taro, tapioca, yams, rice, rice, hot dogs, mac salad, bananas, pastries.

this was the meeting house next to the yap state library. isn't it cool? it's a basket ball court, or a performance area. right on the water.

and here is some of the traditional dance they had the high school kids do for the closing ceremony. it was really awesome.

and these are all the presents i got for being the Hawaii library association pres and coming to represent. we also donated 1,000 to the yap state library since it was ruined by a typhoon a few years ago. that is a lot of money there, so that was nice. they were extremely grateful.