Ran Annim

Ran Annim aami meinisin!

Graduation went well, 6 graduates, lots of food and singing, and stick dancing!

This weekend we had a kids race against some other islands/villages. I'll try to get some pictures up from that soon.

Otherwise, trying to make it out to the Mortlocks soon...we'll see.

Pwapwa is turtle in Chuukese.
He was caught while he was sleeping, or so I was told.

It's official!

Bengi, Xander, and I were officially sworn in on November 13!

We gave speeches in Chuukese and Mortlockese and sang a Chuukese love song.
The mayor from the island where I will be teaching came. I am moving there on Monday.
Everything is great here. This morning a bunch of us participated in a diabetes walk and then played an awesome game of Settlers of Ketan. If you haven't played that game yet, you must!
It is really beautiful and green here. The people are really nice, especially my family. I am a little sad to be leaving them, but I will definitely see them fairly often in the near future.
I tried to climb a coconut tree to get a coconut to drink a couple days ago, and not only was it an ugly site, but I plucked a bad coconut for drinking. I hope I can work on those skills when I get out to my site.
Next task: find big plastic bags to put my stuff in for the boat ride so it stays dry.
I am really excited to be an official volunteer and get out to the permanent.
I am including a view of a collection of islands you can see from Weno.
I hope everyone is well.

John Diehl

September 9th

I'm leaving, see you all later, Please come visit